Author's Note: So I guess this chapter has the most sasusaku so far. I'm going to try and update every Saturday. My school work is getting to be more and more but it shouldn't keep me from updating. Thanks for the follows and reviews! Please enjoy!

Sasuke had been trying to get comfortable for the last couple of hours. He could not sleep at all. Every time he tried, all he thought about was the "kiss". The short instant of when their lips had touched remained etched in his mind. After he looked up and saw that it was after one, he finally gave up. The Uchiha sat up and sighed. "Well, at least I won't have to wake up because of a nightmare," he thought to himself. "Now what am I supposed to do?"

He thought about the events from earlier yesterday, trying to remember everything except for their "kiss". After his encounter with Gaara, he then went to Kankuro and Temari. They had also, reluctantly by the looks of it, told him not to apologize. The two sand siblings told him they trusted him not to do anything as stupid as before. After that, they acted cool around him.

So it seems they had fully forgiven him, too. Honestly, it frustrated him that everyone was forgiving him so easily. They had just added on to his frustration. After seeing and hearing how much Gaara had changed, he didn't take it as a big surprise that he had forgiven him so easily. But Kankuro and Temari? Sasuke had expected them to make him get on his knees and beg.

With a low growl, he threw his head against the back of the couch and crossed his arms. Sasuke's thoughts drifted back to the "kiss". Narrowing his eyes at the ceiling, he wondered how he had felt during that short moment. The electricity that had shot its way through his body in the instant confused him. Never had he felt like that. That feeling was completely foreign to the Uchiha. It felt good, but where did it come from? Why did it come?

Sasuke had been on the roof of a random tower for about two hours. He knew that it was going to be impossible for him to sleep so he had gone outside and unconsciously wandered to the top of the tower. Enjoying the small gusts of cold wind, he sighed. Someone was approaching now and he wasn't surprised when he looked off the side to see who it was.

"What are you doing here?" he asked as he grabbed Sakura's hand and pulled her up.

"I could ask you the same thing," she said as she settled down beside him.

"Couldn't sleep. You?"

She giggled. "I think you've got me into the habit of waking up this early."

"Hn."

"The view up here is gorgeous," she said with a smile.

Sasuke glanced at her, which turned into a stare. His mouth and eyes widened slightly. The way the moonlight reflected in her eyes. The way it made her skin glow. Her smile was so warm. "She looks so beautiful..." He started to move closer to her but he quickly stopped himself and looked away. "Control yourself. Yes, she looks nice, but you shouldn't be doing anything like that."

Sakura turned her head and saw his flustered expression. "Are you okay?" she asked with a frown.

"Hm?" he responded after being brought out of his thoughts. He quickly changed to have a stoic look. "I'm fine. I keep telling you not to worry about me."

"No matter what you say, that's not going to happen," she replied calmly.

"You shouldn't care about me at all. After everything I've done..." he trailed off. She became confused and it showed. Why was he saying this?

"Sasuke, you've already apologized to me."

His next outburst made her jump a little. "It shouldn't be that simple! I haven't earned anyone's forgiveness! Why do you and everyone else forgive me so easily?!" He waited for her answer with both hands digging into his hair and his teeth gritted.

She gently pulled his right hand down and entwined it with her left. He could only stare at her with wonder as she responded. "We've forgiven you because we know that you're sorry. You weren't thinking right, and you were lost."

His voice was barely a whisper. "But I tried to kill them..." He stopped and looked at her with extreme guilt and sorrow. "I tried to kill you..."

She shook her head. "I know. Ever since that moment, I was terrified. Not because you tried to do it, but because I was afraid that you had completely lost yourself."

He didn't know what to say. It felt uncomfortable, being at a loss for words. She hadn't been scared OF him, she had been scared FOR him.

"Sakura-"

"You don't have to say anything else. Like I said, I know that you're sorry." She paused and gave a quick laugh. "It's actually kind of funny, what happened after you left the bridge. That kunai I had was poisoned and Naruto passed out, right after you left, from the small cut on his cheek. After I removed it, we joked and laughed about it."

Sasuke was bewildered. "How can you do that? How can you forget about everything that happened there in an instant?"

"I don't know. Something about it just made us all move on and laugh. I guess it was because-," she stopped and thought for a minute.

"Because?" he asked with curiosity.

"I don't want you to get mad at me." She tried to let go of his hand.

"Leave it. And I won't get angry."

She did as he said and left their hands entwined before speaking. "I guess it was because I wasn't alone."

His eyes narrowed slightly. She was right. He had been alone with no one to guide him. His mind had been poisoned by Tobi. He wouldn't listen to his friends because his mind had been set on revenge.

What he did next even shocked him a little, but he quickly just went along with it. "Sakura?"

"Hm?" she turned towards him. A gasp escaped from her as he tapped the purple mark he loved so much on her forehead.

He gave a small smile. "Thank you." The smile got bigger the more she blushed.

"Quit it! You're just making it worse!" she shouted as she continued to turn red.

He laughed quietly as he removed his fingers.

She couldn't help herself. She launched herself at him and embraced him in a huge hug. "You're welcome."

He was still grinning when he moved one hand and rubbed her back.

Now, it was six days before the festival. All of the other villages arrived the previous day. When the Cloud came, tensions were a little high between Sasuke and Choji's girlfriend, Karui. About a year before, Sasuke had gone to the Cloud and made amends with the Raikage and the rest. His first punishment, or at least that's what Sasuke considered it, was listening to Killer Bee rap for a concert that only he heard. Bee said that it was his way of showing that they were now cool. After that, Sasuke had willingly done long hours of work for the village and its people. Karui was the last one to accept his forgiveness. Even the Raikage, Darui, and Omoi had accepted him long before. Sasuke hadn't been surprised though. Before he left, Sakura told him that Karui had nearly beaten Naruto to death because of Sasuke being involved in Bee's disappearance.

Anyway, when they had arrived Bee had grabbed his shoulder and asked how he had been. Karui had just rolled her eyes and said a reluctant greeting to him. Nothing to really worry about. The Raikage had nodded. Omoi and Darui had copied Bee and asked him how things had been. Naruto was pretty baffled and asked what he had done to make them his "best friends".

The other Kage had also said a respectful greeting. Sasuke had done work for them as well.

Most of the current day had been setting up for the festival and catching up with friends. Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura decided to go to the training field and they all had their mouths gaped in unison when they arrived. Tons of people from a variety of villages were already engaged in their own matches.

"Looks like it did in the Forest of Death," Naruto declared.

"No kidding," Sakura added.

They walked to a nearby tree and set their stuff down under its shade.

"Alright, Sasuke! Sakura has already kicked your butt and now it's my turn!" Naruto shouted excitedly.

Sasuke smirked as he put his bandana on. "Hn, you won't get as close as she was to beating me."

"We'll see about that!"

Sakura smiled and sat down. "Both of you shut up and settle it on the battlefield."

Naruto grinned and gave her a thumbs up before running to an open area with Sasuke close behind.

The Kazekage had been watching and came up to them. "If you don't mind, I'd like to be the judge of this match."

Sasuke's smirk returned. "Hn, I don't mind. It'll be over quickly."

"Yeah," Naruto spat back, "and I'm gonna be the one standing tall!"

Gaara looked back and forth between the two and waited for their nods. When both were ready he shouted, "Begin!"

Immediately after, Naruto attacked first. Sakura had been smiling as she watched her two friends battle it out. It had only been about five minutes before everyone else postponed their matches to watch the fight between the best friends. Everyone from the Konohagakure rookie group was watching, as were the other sand siblings. The battle raged on for another twenty minutes. Neither of them looked to be ready to give. Both were exhausted though. Sakura knew that both of them were determined to get the better of each other, especially with so many people watching. Both bloody and battered, stopped at a distance from each other.

Sakura had begun to get agitated. It only got worse as she realized both were about to use their signature moves. Sasuke's Chidori came into view. Naruto's Rasengan quickly followed. They started to sprint toward each other and gasps and cheers came from the massive crowd.

"They can't be this stupid," Sakura whispered to herself. They didn't stop, still running full speed towards each other. Her heart was pounding and it got to be to much.

Naruto and Sasuke opened their eyes and waited, neither moving. Gaara walked over and judged. Both the Rasengan and Chidori were as close as possible to their opponent's face. The crowd had silenced and were eagerly waiting for the call. The Kazekage looked it over for another minute or so and walked to the front of the crowd. Naruto and Sasuke lowered their arms and their signatures disappeared.

"The winner of the battle is," Gaara paused. The crowd didn't make a sound. It was so quiet that you could hear everyone's individual breathing.

"Sasuke Uchiha!"

Half of the crowd erupted in cheers, half in sighs of disappointment. They even saw quite a few people exchanging money or items. The fight had been so intense that people were betting.

"No way! Gaara you are such a cheater!" An upset Uzumaki shouted.

"Nope. I saw it clear as day, too. Sasuke won," Shikamaru added.

"After I'm healed, I want my rematch with you!" Naruto shouted at Gaara.

Sasuke smirked and turned around, wanting to see the look on a certain someone's face. Breathing heavily, he narrowed his eyes and frowned in confusion and disappointment. She wasn't there. He looked around and didn't see any sign of her. He could not sense her chakra anywhere nearby either.

"Later Naruto. I have to settle some business with the other Kage," Gaara responded.

"Why didn't you do that instead of coming here?! If you ask me, I think that you're afraid to fight me," Naruto screamed back.

Sasuke started to limp towards the tree where they had set their things down. Tons of his fan girls blocked him. They started asking for autographs and all of them trying to touch him. It was getting really irritating now. He pushed past most of them as fast as he could. More and more got in his way and he had reached his limit.

"Move!" he shouted as his eye turned red. They immediately broke apart to allow him space to get through. Slowly making his way to the tree, people started to give him more death stares after the outburst. He could care less at the moment. The Uchiha reached his destination and noticed that Sakura's stuff was not there. Quickly grabbing his bag, he set out for the apartment.

The door was unlocked, of course. To his dismay, she was not there. He set his bag down and began to worry. Removing his bandana, he sat and waited for a few minutes. No one came so he got up and made his way to the door. The pain in his leg was getting to be to much to bear, but he made his way through town anyway. Nothing.

Next, he went to the hospital. The person at the front desk said she had not seen her at all today. When he got outside, he climbed his way up to her office, wincing at the growing pain. Nothing.

It had been about an hour now since he had started looking for her. It was also beginning to get dark. Desperation was slowly taking over. Now he quickened his pace and jumped from the rooftops towards the Hokage's office. He began to grunt in pain as he landed on each roof, which led to him silently cursing himself.

Knocking on the door, Sasuke breathed heavily again because of the massive effort he was making. Blood was still dripping from multiple wounds he had suffered. Kakashi told him to enter and he was in the office in an instant. The Hokage widened his eyes in surprise at his former student's current appearance.

"Has Sakura been here?" he asked through pained gasps.

"Sasuke what happened to you?" Kakashi stood up.

Sasuke slammed his fists down onto the Hokage's desk and raised his voice. "Has she been here?!"

"No I haven't seen her today. Calm down," Kakashi quickly answered. "Now tell me what happened," he added.

The Uchiha did his best to calm down and lower his voice. "Naruto and I had a practice match. She was there when we started but she wasn't when we finished."

The Hatake's focus went to keeping Sasuke calm. "I'm sure that there's nothing to worry about. She probably just went to Ino's or something."

"Ino was there."

"Okay, maybe she went to the store."

"I've looked through the busy streets. She isn't at the apartment."

"Maybe she's at Ino's house now."

Sasuke was getting livid and he couldn't stop himself from yelling again. "How can you be so calm?! I can't find her anywhere!"

"Sasuke, I will tell you once again to calm down. She can't be anywhere outside the village because we've stepped up our security for the festival. ANBU are stationed at every point outside the village. Just go to the hospital and get healed. If she isn't at the apartment by the time you're back, then I'll send a squad to search for her."

"No. I'm not going anywhere until I find her." He stomped out of the office and slammed the door.

Kakashi sighed and sat down, turning to look out of the window. He could already see Sasuke hopping from the rooftops.

"Why do you have to be so stubborn Sasuke?" he said to himself. If there really was something wrong, then he could handle it without the Uchiha. Thinking back to what Naruto said a few days ago and what Sasuke had just said, he began to ponder.

"I wonder. Could Naruto have been right? Sasuke has been acting different when he's around Sakura lately. He seemed extremely worried, too. It's almost weird to think that he may have had a change of heart towards her. I just have to watch and see."

Sasuke hopped on the rooftops around the village for a second time, frantically searching for any sign of his pink haired teammate. He gave up on the rooftops and jumped down in the middle of a street. Walking quickly, stares fired at the bloody and battered Uchiha. He was more concerned with finding Sakura at the moment and he just ignored them. He walked around the village for another hour with no luck. It was really dark now, the storm clouds were moving in, and Sasuke was getting desperate. Luck was on his side though, and he turned when he heard a conversation that might help him.

"Hey did you see the Haruno girl come through here earlier?" He grabbed some alcohol and chugged it down as his friend answered.

The shorter man put his drink down and answered. "Yes. She looked real upset about something. We should of told her to come over here with us. Hehehe, I could've made her feel better if you know what I mean."

They started to laugh but stopped almost immediately as the shorter man was picked up and slammed into the wall next to them. He struggled with no luck as his dangling feet kicked out towards the attacker.

"Hey man! What's wrong with you?!" The other man shouted as he got up and moved towards his friend. He froze in mid step as a red eye glared back at him.

Sasuke turned his head back to the shorter man. "Where is she?" he growled through gritted teeth.

"I don't know what you're talking about man!" he shakily shouted.

Sasuke had put his bandana back on in the time he had allowed the two men to converse. The man squirmed even more when he saw who it was that attacked him. Sasuke spoke. "The Haruno girl. The one you were just talking about."

Red and purple eyes bore into green. The man stuttered. "P-Please d-d-don't hurt m-me!"

Sasuke moved closer. "I won't if you answer my question. If you don't answer, then I'll burn you alive."

The man whimpered as the Mangekyo Sharingan came into view. "Okay! Okay! We saw her walk through here earlier!"

Sasuke moved back. "Which way did she go?"

The man pointed in the direction behind him. "That's all I know! I swear!"

Sasuke let the man go, but didn't move. The man started getting angry. "I told you everything. Let me go!"

Sasuke's eye returned to normal and he smirked. "I will, but you shouldn't be drinking so much." He grabbed the full bottle the man hadn't touched yet. "Consider this me doing you a favor."

Sasuke stepped back and smashed the glass bottle over the man's head, alcohol spattering everywhere, knocking him unconscious. His friend's mouth dropped as he made his way to the unconscious man.

Sasuke started sprinting in the direction the man had pointed in. The Yamanaka flower shop was this way. The pain in his body seemed to have subsided due to his determination.

He burst through the front of the shop, surprising Ino, who had been at the counter. Sai was also there.

"Oh, Sasuke! You scared me. How come you didn't get treated after your match with Naruto?"

He quickly walked to the counter and explained. "Ino listen. Did you see Sakura when you came back to this shop?"

"I haven't seen Forehead all day. What's wrong? Did something happen to her?"

"No, I just really need to find her. What about you?" He turned to Sai.

"I haven't seen ugly today either." This earned him a glare from the disgruntled Uchiha. He was about to speak again when Ino stomped on his toe. She hadn't turned her head from Sasuke, and she moved her foot when her boyfriend closed his mouth.

"Sorry, Sasuke. I hope you find Sakura though," Ino replied.

He said his farewells and exited the shop. He was about ready to give up. He headed back to the apartment. Maybe she had come back. Hopefully.

Sasuke walked up the steps to the third floor. It had started to rain and he was exhausted. Opening the door, he traveled to her bedroom to find her there, sitting on the bottom part of the window. He was extremely upset with her and he started to shout.

"Where did you!-" he stopped when he saw the traumatized look she gave him out of the corner of her eye. All the angry feelings he had built up turned to guilt and sorrow. She turned her gaze back to the heavy rain outside. He stood where he had been for another minute. Slowly making his way to the window, he never looked away from her. Sitting down on the opposite end, he let the left side of his head rest against the glass.

They looked outside at the rain for the next few minutes. He turned his head back to hers and put on a frown. "Sakura, what's wrong?" He reached his hand out to touch her but she quickly slapped it away.

"It's nothing you should worry about. I should heal you before the wounds get worse."

"No. Tell me what's wrong. Why did you leave the field?" His voice was full of concern.

She moved so that she was facing him. "I told you that it doesn't concern you. Let me heal you."

"I will if you tell me what's bothering you after you're done."

She sighed. "Fine."

Sasuke sat down on the floor and took his shirt along with his bandana off. When she was done with his upper body she moved to the worst wound he had, which was in his lower left leg. He let out a sigh of relief as the pain finally stopped. When he opened his eyes, he saw that she was moving to the spot on his head. She gently pulled his bangs out of the way, setting them behind his ear. Touching the spot with her healing chakra, it began to close up. He could not take his eyes away from hers. She was doing her best to avoid eye contact with him. When Sakura finished, she moved his bangs back to their original spot. Sasuke put his shirt back on and stood up, pulling her up with him. He took her hand and led her to the living room, making her sit beside him on the couch. She still refused to look at him. He put his right hand on her cheek, turning her so that she was facing him.

"Tell me what's wrong," he whispered.

She shoved his hand off of her and sighed again. "When you and Naruto were fighting, you both used your signature moves."

He narrowed his eyes in confusion.

"I thought that you were actually going to do it. All that I could remember was both of you on the ground bleeding to death. I try to shut that image out of my mind everytime it pops up. This time it was different though. It wouldn't go away and I thought of how worried I was that both of you were dead."

The realization had sent a wave of regret surging through him. He didn't think about it until now, but he put himself in her shoes and imagined what it would be like to see two of your friends bleeding to death, or possibly even dead already. "Sakura I'm sorry. I didn't realize."

"Like I said, it's fine. You shouldn't have to worry about how one person feels about a stupid jutsu."

"No. I've already hurt you so much. Knowing that I'm still hurting you hurts me. And you think my jutsu is stupid?" he added with a small smirk. Obviously, he was trying to change the subject to cheer her up. Seeing her in pain because of him gave Sasuke a sickening feeling.

"Tch. No, I think that your jutsu is pretty cool. It's more than I could ever do. You aren't hurting me Sasuke. It just brought back a bad memory, that's all."

"A memory that was my fault. And there you go doubting yourself again! I'd give anything to have monster strength like you, you know. I've even heard that Tsunade has said you've surpassed her. She said that you're now the best medic in the village and probably ever."

Sakura beamed. "Lady Tsunade said that?! Where did you hear that?"

He shifted in his seat. "A lot of people have told me."

She smiled. "Since when have you ever been this..." She struggled to find the right word. "This nice, I guess you could say."

He rolled his eyes. "Hn, there's a lot of sides of mine that you haven't seen. We're not in public so I guess I can ACT nice."

She playfully punched his shoulder. "There's a side I know very well, the jerk one." She yawned.

He motioned for her to come closer. She did as he implied and asked him a question. "What do you want from me now?"

His smirk returned as he put his arm around her, making her come even closer. "Shut up and go to sleep."

She rolled her eyes and rested her head on his shoulder. She tried to hide her amusement and confusion caused by his actions. "Fine, but if you wake me up again you're a dead man."

"Hn, believe me, I wouldn't risk it."

It only took her a few more minutes to drift into a deep sleep. He silently watched her, enjoying the heat of her body against his. Sasuke sat there for what seemed like forever, his gaze never leaving her. The raven haired male looked outside the window to see that it was still raining. Reluctantly, he picked her up, walked to her room, and set her down in her bed. He put the covers up to her chin and made his way back to the couch.

He had to get some sleep tonight. Exhaustion had finally taken its toll. He sighed and closed his eyes, knowing that there were horrible memories or nightmares awaiting him. However, this time he hoped that he didn't wake Sakura up. He took her death threat seriously. Even though she wouldn't actually kill him, she would probably make him have a nice, long stay at the hospital.

The kunai smacked into the wall of the cave. That was followed by five more.

"I'm getting restless Boss!" the man shouted.

"So am I," the other man he referred to as Boss, in the middle of the cave replied. "You will get some action soon enough. As will I and the rest of us. Just be patient. I'm going to make the first move though. You have no idea the amount of restraint that I am using right now. To have the last Uchiha at my feet, begging for mercy, is what I desire."

A sinister laugh echoed through the walls of the cave.

Author's Note: I tried to add more sasusaku in this chapter, so I hope you liked it. We are approaching the festival! Revealing my OC main villain will come soon, too! I'm doing a bit of research for his character as well. Hope you enjoyed! Thanks for the follows! Please review! P.S. I promise you that I read all of the reviews and sorry that I don't reply!