Author's Note: So I literally got rid of my writer's block the day I released the previous chapter. I finished this one that night. Anyway, thanks so much for the reviews, favorites, and follows! They make me more confident in my writing. Enjoy!

It was very early in the morning on the third day of the search.

Shino and Kiba continued to make their way through their area, searching everything and everywhere to see if they could find the slightest hint or clue. Akamaru sniffed around their current location tirelessly. Kiba helped his companion search through the low grounds. Shino was in the trees, taking the high grounds.

As soon as they had split up a few days ago, Shino had sent some of his bugs out to search the whole area that they had been assigned. Speaking of which, they should be returning right about now.

After waiting a few seconds, the Aburame narrowed his eyes in confusion. They literally should have come back at that very moment, but he didn't hear one sound that told him that they were near. Nor did he see a single sign of any of them. Lingering at his current location for the next few minutes, Shino wondered what had happened. He jumped down and made his way to the Inuzuka and his dog.

"My bugs should have been back by now," Shino said after shoving his hands into his coat pockets.

While Akamaru continued to sniff around the area, Kiba halted and turned his head towards his teammate. "Do you think that maybe they knew somehow?"

"I'm not sure, but it's definitely possible."

The area they were in right now was covered with large rocks and trees that were so close together that only little slivers of light broke through the clusters of leaves.

All of a sudden, Kiba's eyes widened and Akamaru began to bark in alarm.

"Get down!" Kiba shouted.

The moment after, explosions rocked the environment. Everyone had gotten in cover from the bombs. A hysterical laugh came from somewhere in the smoke.

When the dust had cleared, Kiba coughed and turned around to see a kunai coming straight for his neck at a blinding speed. It was too late to get out of the way. Akamaru barked and whimpered as blood spattered everywhere.

Sakura woke up to see that the sun had just risen. After she had sat up, she glanced at Sasuke's sleeping bag to see that it had remained untouched since he had woken up earlier. She turned her gaze to the entrance to see him sitting next to it, looking utterly exhausted.

Sasuke looked at her from the corner of his tired eye as she made her way outside. He stood up and stretched, almost passing out as he blinked.

"Are you ready to go?" he asked.

"I am, but you're obviously not."

"I'll last," he replied.

The Uchiha went back inside to gather his things. After he had finished, he turned and headed back outside. Before he could make it back to the entrance, Sakura blocked his way.

"Move, we have to get going."

"Sasuke, if you don't get any rest then you're going to pass out."

"No I'm not." He gently moved her out of his way and leaped away from the rock where the entrance sat. "Hurry up."

Sakura gave him a concerned look before gathering her belongings and meeting him outside. "We're resting longer tonight. You told me yesterday that we were ahead of where we planned to be by today."

The Uchiha spent the next minute clumsily wrapping the dark bandana around his head. He didn't respond as they began to travel at a slow pace.

"Sasuke, what are you going to do if we get ambushed? Drop to the ground from exhaustion?"

He smirked. "Hn, you underestimate me."

"I'm serious! You can't keep going like this."

He stopped and stared at her with a tired stoic expression. "I've been doing this for at least the last three years. I think that I can go a little longer."

Sakura gasped and frowned. She didn't know how to respond, so they continued on their journey.

It was around noon.

"We should take a break Hinata," Naruto said.

Hinata glanced back at her husband, deactivating the Byakugan. "I need a short rest as well."

They settled down behind the cover of some large bushes. Naruto pulled a cup of ramen out of his pack and rubbed his hands together. Hinata dug in hers for some food and they chatted as they ate lunch.

"Naruto, can I ask you something?"

"Sure! You know that you can ask me anything!"

She smiled and looked at him. "Well, I just want to know why you keep pressuring Sasuke and Sakura so much."

The Uzumaki chuckled and leaned against a tree stump. "Oh c'mon. I'm not allowed to have some fun?"

Hinata frowned and narrowed her eyes. "What's the real reason?"

Naruto matched her expression as he began to stare at the ground. He sighed, but Hinata spoke before he could.

"I don't think that you should bother them. They say that nothing's happening."

"Hinata, I know that you know how Sakura feels. You want to help her just like she helped you, right?"

She nodded. "It's different with them though. If they want everyone else to stay out of it, then we should."

"I know what you mean, but..." Naruto swallowed.

They stared at the ground in silence for a few seconds.

"But, you see the way they are around each other. Don't you?"

The former Hyuga turned her gaze back towards her husband. To her surprise, he had a sad grin on his face. She didn't interrupt as he continued.

"Sakura has always loved him. Ever since Sasuke came back a few weeks ago, it's almost as if, well, all I know is that it's different."

Hinata's expression changed to one of curiosity. "I've noticed that and I've told Sakura. All of us said something about it at the hot springs."

Naruto turned his grin into a smile. "Sasuke is different now. But around Sakura, he's even more different than usual."

He chuckled again before finishing. "Sasuke is actually, happy around Sakura."

Hinata was a little bewildered, but not much. She knew that there was something peculiar about the Uchiha lately.

They finished lunch and gathered their belongings. Making their way through the bushes, Hinata was just about to activate the Byakugan again when-

"Hinata!" Naruto screamed as he tackled her and shielded her entire body.

An explosion went off right where she had been standing. Hysterical laughing from multiple attackers started soon after.

"Aw, isn't that cute. Hm, the war hero trying to save the one he loves."

Naruto looked up and rolled off of Hinata. They both gasped as soon as they saw the speaker's face. Both knew who it was only from descriptions of his looks.

The man laughed. "I certainly hope that you two enjoyed your last day together."

Sasuke rubbed his eyes as they continued to walk. Sakura had not let him even try running, threatening to knock him out and drag his body for the rest of the day. The sun had started to set and he guessed that it was around six.

"We should look for a place to stop," Sakura said.

Sasuke turned his head in surprise. "It's too early."

"I told you that we were going to stop earlier today. You need rest."

"I'm fine," he announced as he sped up.

"No, you're not."

He twisted his head around. "Yes I-"

Sasuke didn't finish his sentence as he fell to the ground. Still dazed, he rubbed the side of his face as he opened his eyes. Apparently, he had smacked into a low hanging tree branch. Cursing out of frustration, he clumsily sat up, ignoring Sakura's smirk.

"I can still go longer. I just didn't see it, that's all."

The moment he had made it to his feet, Sakura grabbed his collar and tossed him into the tree, pinning him against it. "We're finding somewhere to stay for the night. Got it?"

Sasuke smirked and didn't try to move. "Why should I?"

The smirk faded away after Sakura punched a large whole in the section next to his head. "I'll keep my promise on knocking you out if that's what you want."

He sighed. "Hn, fine."

Shortly afterward, they found another small cave. Sakura didn't protest this time because she knew that Sasuke was in desperate need of rest. As they both placed their belongings in separate corners, Sakura eyed the Uchiha, seeing if he would even attempt to sleep. To her dismay, he didn't.

"Sasuke, we're stopping early so you can get some rest. Please try."

"No matter what I do, I'm not going to get much rest. I'll wake up sometime because of- Never mind."

She gave him a look of concern before heading to the entrance. At the last second, she turned and pleaded with him once more. "Please Sasuke."

He frowned when he saw how desperate she was. "Okay."

To her relief, he crawled into his sleeping bag and closed his eyes. She stepped outside.

Sasuke twisted until he had found a comfortable position. Finally settling down, he thought of how long he'd go that night without a nightmare. The reason he had willingly agreed was because he wanted to be fully aware if they were attacked. Gritting his teeth, he imagined what he'd do if the enemy hurt Sakura. He wanted nothing more than to protect her from harm, even if it was just from words. After a few more seconds, the Uchiha drifted into sleep.

Sasuke watched in disbelief as Sakura jumped in front of him, shielding him from Gaara. The large sand arm slammed into her, pinning her into a tree, and she passed out. She had just saved his life. Sasuke tried to move again but closed his eyes in frustration and pain, the black markings still in place.

"You better hurry! The sand will harden and crush her soon!" Gaara shouted hysterically, drooling from the monster-like half of his face.

Naruto started to attack.

Time went at a fast rate and slowed down after a few seconds.

Naruto crashed into Sasuke's body and they both caught their breath as they rested on the tree branch.

"All that work and you only managed to get in one hit?" Sasuke asked.

The dust from the explosion began to clear. Gaara was still dazed.

Sasuke gritted his teeth. This had all been his fault. If he hadn't used the curse mark, then Sakura wouldn't be in a life or death situation.

"Naruto, listen to me."

The Uzumaki turned his head.

"You have to save Sakura, if it's the last thing you do!"

It shifted.

"Sakura, thank you."

Sasuke caught her as she fell.

He hadn't planned on any of this happening. The original plan was to sneak out of the village without anyone knowing. Only with his luck though, his annoying teammate had to come and ruin it. In truth, she was the hardest to say goodbye to. However, there was no turning back from this. This was necessary if he was going to fight Itachi. Then, maybe he could come back to the village again after his older brother was dead.

As he put her down on the bench, he couldn't help but stare. No matter how annoying she was, Sakura was still the one that he liked the most in the village. He didn't know why, but none of that mattered right now. He turned and started to walk off, but stopped after only a single step. Sighing, Sasuke looked back at her one last time before forcing himself to move, shoving his hands in his pockets.

Another shift.

This time, he was standing in the middle of his old house. Looking down at his hands, he noticed that his left was heavily bandaged, so that meant that this wasn't a memory and that he was at his current age. A noise coming from outside shook him out of his thoughts. He opened the front door and saw his mother crying in the middle of the street, her back turned away from him.

"Don't come any closer!" Mikoto shouted as he stopped just outside the door.

Sasuke was in complete shock. "I-It's me. S-Sasuke."

She turned to face him and took a few steps back. "Sasuke?"

Mikoto retreated faster as he slowly took another step forward.

"I'm your son," he shakily whispered. Why was his own mother afraid of him?

"My boy... My baby boy is... A murderer."

Sasuke's mouth dropped to the ground. He didn't dare move another inch.

Suddenly, two more people appeared beside her.

Itachi scowled at his younger brother. "I took everyone's lives in our entire clan for you! And what did you do?!"

Fugaku, Sasuke's father, had a sorrowful and disapproving look on his face. "Itachi killed all of us just to save you. You are a disgrace to the Uchiha name."

As Sasuke began to speak, they were gone in a flash. However, he remained on the spot. It only took a few more seconds for two more figures to form in the spot where his family had stood.

Kurushimi grinned and laughed. "Are you really this selfish?! You would let your friends die for you?!"

Once again, another person came into view as Sasuke tried to speak. He gasped in horror as Sakura stood in front of Kenshi, who had his sword to her throat.

The next instant, he was frozen in place. He couldn't even blink.

Kurushimi laughed for a second time. "I promise that I will take everyone you care about away from you. How would it feel to have your family taken away from you, AGAIN!?"

The paralyzed Uchiha tried to make words come out with no luck.

The male across from him smirked and turned his head to Kenshi. In return, he gave Sasuke a look of pure evil. The Uchiha watched in terror as he sliced Sakura's throat.

Breathing heavily while his hands shook, Sasuke slowly opened his eyes. Quickly rolling over, he gasped out of surprise and worry when he saw that Sakura was not in her sleeping bag. Desperation immediately took over his mind as he jumped up and ran to the entrance.

"Sakura?!" Sasuke shouted as he looked outside.

"What's wrong?" she asked with concern.

He breathed a small sigh of relief as he saw her sitting right beside the entrance, writing something down in a notebook.

"Nothing. I was concerned when I saw that you weren't in there."

"It's just now around midnight. I was probably about to head in anyway."

"Hn," he grunted as he sat down beside her. In all honesty, Sasuke was surprised that he had slept that long. For the next minute, he watched as she continued to write in the notebook. "What's that?"

She took her attention away from writing and directed it at him. "Oh, it's just some things that we know for sure about the enemy."

She handed the list to him and sure enough, there were notes scribbled all over the page.

After a few minutes of studying the facts, he gave it back and she put it away.

"Do you think the others are okay?" Sakura asked with a hint of worry.

"I don't know. I wouldn't worry about them though. They're too strong to give up that easily."

The kunoichi smiled and leaned back on the hard rock. "You're right, I shouldn't be worried."

What he had been wondering about since the previous night entered the front of his mind once again. His inner thoughts were screaming and shouting at him, commanding him not to say anything about it. However, something else inside of him told him that he needed to ask, needed to know. Finally, he had managed to ignore the demands to not say anything about it and he came to a conclusion that this truly was something that he had to know.

"Sakura?"

"Hm?"

The nervous Uchiha swallowed. "What does it feel like?"

She gave him a puzzled look.

He repeated the question, this time adding more so that she knew for sure what he wanted to know. Sasuke hesitated because he was certain that this would be awkward for her. He soon discarded that fact, deciding that it was something that absolutely, without a doubt, had to be answered.

"Sakura, what does it feel like... to be in love?"

The Haruno was visibly shocked, but Sasuke didn't act like he had noticed. The question wasn't a joke or prank, and he wanted her to know that he was serious.

After another second or so, she got over her shock and thought of what to say. Scratching her head, she began to reply nervously.

"Um, well, you feel a lot of things."

"Such as?"

"Uh, I guess one sign is that you feel comfortable and like to be around them, like you can tell them just about anything."

"I do feel that way around you," he thought to himself. His expression told her that he needed more than that.

"You always want to protect them from any kind of harm or danger."

"I'll protect you no matter what, even at the cost of my own life..."

"They're probably on your mind all the time, too."

"I think about you everyday and you are always on my mind."

Sakura scratched her head again out of embarrassment. "Sasuke, not to be nosy or anything, but why are you asking me?"

He had been intrigued at how many signs there were. What was even more fascinating to him was that all of the things she had mentioned were correct in his case. "I just... I'm curious..."

Sakura had apparently believed his half right excuse.

Sasuke shuffled around for a couple of seconds. His next question was going to make her uncomfortable, so he tried to act as casual as he could. "Do you ever dream about that person?"

As expected, she became flustered and turned a light shade of red. Turning away, she gulped and tried to answer without stuttering. "Um, yes."

"Hn... Do you feel the urge to act cool around them all the time?"

She turned her head back to him, this time controlling her embarrassment. "Yeah. And you feel different when you touch, even if it's just by accident."

"I definitely feel different when that happens with us," he continued to think. This was all overwhelming for Sasuke. "Am I really in love?"

Sakura was puzzled at the Uchiha's persistence. His answer of "I'm just curious" was kind of suspicious when it was about this subject. Somehow though, she felt less awkward as their conversation progressed.

"What about when you look into their eyes?" Sasuke asked. He was deeply interested with every answer he received, each one pushing him further to the conclusion that he really was in love with her. It seemed so impossible for him to feel an emotion as serious as this one, but with every passing second, it came closer and closer to being normal.

"It feels like you're the only two people in the world, like nothing else matters."

A light bulb went off in Sasuke's head. "I-I think that I am in love with you..."

His heart started racing as he envisioned telling her. How would she react? Would she be happy? Disbelieving? Even more stressful, what would he do after that?

Swallowing, he decided to suck it up and get it over with. "Sakura, I..."

She stared at him with a curious look, wondering what he was going to say. "Yeah?"

The words wouldn't come out of his mouth. The bad part, however, was that a new realization came to mind. "I don't deserve her. I've already hurt her so much and that's all I can do. Bring her pain... Besides, I just really like her and she's just a close friend. It's nothing more." He inwardly laughed at himself. "What was I thinking? It's just a coincidence that those signs are the way I feel towards her. Yeah, I shouldn't say that I love her because of a few coincidental things. I only feel that way because she's a close friend. That's all."

"Sasuke, you can tell me anything."

He rubbed one hand through his hair. He couldn't stop laughing at himself for thinking that he was in love.

When he turned back to her again, there was something, strange, that bothered him. It was only for a small instant, but he thought that he could see a pained sort of look in her eyes.

"Sakura?"

She faced the front and frowned, wrapping her arms around her knees and resting her chin on top of them.

"What's wrong with me?! I never should've asked her that! Now she's upset because of me! I'm right about only hurting her!" he angrily screamed at himself.

"I'm sorry. I never should've asked you that."

"No, it's fine."

"It's not fine when I keep hurting you."

"You didn't upset me," she lied while putting on a fake smile. "I just... If it helps... You could tell me about some of the things that are bothering you."

He frowned and narrowed his eyes. "Then I'd only be hurting you more. I haven't told you because I want to stop hurting you."

"You're n-"

"I can see it in your eyes. You're keeping it all locked away deep inside you. All of the pain I caused, you're trying to hide it."

She sniffed and tears silently began to fall. "I knew that it was too much to hope for. I just thought since he was asking me... And then he started to say something else... He's right, all of it is coming back now. I don't want to be mad at him, but..."

"You shouldn't keep it in any longer."

"I don't want to-"

"Don't worry about bothering me. It'll be nothing compared to what I've done."

Sakura continued to cry in silence, debating over whether she should do as he said and let it all out. Finally, she gave in. "Did you even care about anyone else?"

He was unmoved, still sitting with a stoic expression.

"Start a revolution?!"

Silence.

"Kill your best friend?!"

Sakura did her best to keep herself from obliterating something. Sasuke finally spoke up.

"Keep going," he whispered.

"It isn't just you! Naruto was walking to his death when he fought you! He knew! He knew that both of you were supposed to die!"

His expression softened as she went on.

"Both of you stupid idiots were just going to lie there and die! If it weren't for me then both of you would've died! You were-!"

The Uchiha's heart was pounding out of his chest. On the outside, it looked like he was untouched by her words. On the inside, he was exploding and tearing himself to pieces. He hadn't realized just how much he had made her suffer. To make it worse, he knew that there was much more that she wasn't telling him, and that was probably because it hurt too much.

She had started to sob. "You were... No, it's selfish."

"Let it out."

"You were going to leave me alone. You left me on a bench and I lost you for three years. Naruto went with Master Jiraiya to train for two... Both of you were dying and I saw all the blood..."

It was trailing back to their conversation from the previous night. However, last night she hadn't gotten to her breaking point. Sasuke knew that she couldn't say anything else. If she did, then he knew exactly where it would've gone.

"Sasuke, I know that you've been through a lot, and I want to help."

He was in complete disbelief. She was in so much emotional pain right now, yet she still wanted to help him, to turn the conversation back his way. "How can you being saying that?! You're angry at me and you have every right, but you still want to help me right now?!"

She herself didn't even know how her rage towards him turned to sorrow for him in an instant.

Sasuke moved closer to her. "What if she can help? I was planning on telling her this later, but what if I tell her about Itachi now?"

Ever so slowly, he began to reach out to her. Maybe it would be best if he told her now. Suddenly, Sasuke stopped his hand about halfway from her. She had her head turned and wasn't paying attention.

"I shouldn't be this selfish. If I tell her now, then that would only be helping me. I don't deserve to be helped..."

His eyes softened as he began to move his hand once again. The Haruno gasped in surprise when he cupped both sides of her face, turning her head so that she faced him. They stared into the other's eyes as he wiped her tears away. After he had finished, his hands were still in the same place.

Sasuke shut his eyes and leaned forward to press his lips against her forehead.

Sakura closed her gaping mouth and felt herself relax. Her eyes closed, too.

They stayed like this for what seemed like forever. His lips were still gently pressed to her forehead as he wrapped his arms around her.

When he finally removed his lips, he let her collapse against him with her head leaning on his shoulder, her face buried deep into the crook of his neck. She eventually wrapped her arms around his neck and held on as if her life depended on it. In response, he tightened his grip on her, pulling her closer so that she was basically sitting in his lap.

"Sakura," he whispered, "I will never let you be alone again. I promise..."

"Sasuke..." she whispered as she began to cry into his neck.

He tugged her even closer, not caring about the wet tears hitting his skin.

Sakura fell asleep shortly after. While Sasuke rubbed one hand through her hair and one across her back, he wondered about his own thoughts.

"Am I lying to myself? Am I love with you Sakura? All I know for sure is that I never want to let you go..."

That night, as they fell asleep in each other's arms, Sasuke Uchiha did not have a nightmare.

He chuckled as he twirled a kunai around with his fingers. The others slept quietly below him. He was sitting on a high tree branch, reminiscing over his pleasurable thoughts of what would happen soon.

"Tomorrow for sure Uchiha... Tomorrow for sure..."

Author's Note: Sasuke is such an emotional mess... I originally planned to have this chapter end with what will happen next chapter. But, I figured that ending the chapter like this fit it better.

By the way, my regular updating schedule for this story is early Saturday morning every week. I go by central time so I don't know what time that is for some of you. That was just a little reminder for guests or people who are new to this fanfiction.

Please review! Thanks for reading!

OTHER UPDATES

So that post 700 story I've been talking about MIGHT be out next week. I plan on updating it on Saturdays like I do this story. I'm not sure about everything yet though. I have a ton of crap to do this weekend so I'm behind on writing for this story. I haven't finished the next chapter because of all this stuff. If I can just get through Tuesday then I can get back on track. Oh well, wish me luck!