Author's Note: This chapter has some Road to Ninja references in it. Just a little heads up.

I just published the first chapter of my post 700 story!

Enjoy!

Kurushimi released the jutsu and slowly put his hands down, lifting his gaze to the ceiling.

Kenshi on the other hand was holding onto the sides of his chair, sweating and panting.

The other male turned his gaze towards his friend. "All of that went according to plan," he announced.

Kenshi wiped the sweat off of his brow. "When you said that I'd be a LITTLE exhausted when I was brought out of that jutsu, I thought you actually meant a little."

He shrugged innocently. "All I do is perform it and I rarely do that jutsu. Anyway, I have a new collection of memories stored. We also have a new expectation of their actions and skills."

"How many days did we hold that? I'm starving!"

A sigh. "About three, give or take."

They sat in silence for the next couple of minutes. Kurushimi was reminiscing over ideas he came up with because of the new memories. Kenshi was wondering if he could really take everyone on the next time he saw them.

"I can't wait until they find us, that way I can really have some fun," Kurushimi said, breaking the silence.

His friend did not respond, only giving him a short glance.

A chuckle. "What's even better is that I can cause them much more pain from using some of these memories."

No reply.

"I especially can't wait to mess with Sasuke. Taking the ones he cares about away from him."

Kenshi nearly fell over from how fast he had stood up, still tired from the jutsu. "Yeah, sure..."

He exited the room and Kurushimi sat where he had been, visibly bewildered by his friend's actions. "What's up with Kenshi lately? He's never hesitated to hurt or kill someone before. Hm... Must be under the weather or something. Oh well... I have plans that need to be made for Sasuke and his friends."

Sasuke slowly opened his eyes, squinting from the blinding sunlight. Turning his head away from it, he heard someone sigh in relief.

"You said that you weren't going to do something stupid," Sakura scolded.

He smirked weakly. "And I didn't."

"Oh really?" She poked the bandage she had wrapped around his head. "How did this happen? You're too careful to get a wound like that."

Sasuke sat up slowly and rested his bare back against the tree they were under. "I made a careless mistake. Everyone does it at least once."

While she rolled her eyes out of irritation and started to scold him again, Sasuke looked down at his bare chest. His shirt had been removed and most of his upper body was covered in bandages. Part of his right arm had been wrapped in one that was particularly tight. That was the place where Kenshi, or whatever that "thing" was, had stabbed him with a kunai.

"You've been unconscious for almost a whole day!" Sakura said, finishing her rant.

The Uchiha tilted his head her way. He put a hand where the bandage on his head rested. It was blocking his bangs from being in their usual place and he was beginning to get annoyed by it.

"When can I take all of these off?" he asked, referring to the bandages.

"Tomorrow morning," she replied.

He huffed and stretched, wincing from the pain in his covered wounds. "Did anyone show up while I was unconscious?"

She shook her head. "No, I don't think that we'll be attacked again anytime soon. That whole fight was weird."

"Hn," he agreed, "and what was that whole Kenshi basically disintegrating thing about? Not only that, but why did we see Kurushimi's eyes?"

"I don't understand anything that happened yesterday. Also, my opponents were, well, really weak. The most trouble I had was with the one who made that earth prison. He wasn't that much of a challenge to be honest."

Sasuke squinted out of curiosity. He remembered how Sakura had easily defeated their first enemy. If all of them had really been that inexperienced, then what was the purpose of the whole ambush? His breathing halted as another event crossed his mind again.

Sakura twisted her head when Sasuke attempted to stand. "You need to rest."

"Sakura, do you remember when we saw Kurushimi's eyes?"

Hesitantly, she nodded.

"You saw your memories didn't you?"

Another slow nod.

"Our memories were copied."

Sakura's mouth gaped slightly. "I wondered about that but I wasn't sure. What do you think they want with them?"

He didn't answer. Why did they want their memories? "We can think about that later. Right now we need to leave and head to the location where we're supposed to meet up with the others."

"You shouldn't move too much. Please rest."

He huffed in annoyance. "I don't have time for this."

"Would you rather injure yourself further?"

"Sakura, don't do this again."

Giving him a concerned look, she sighed. "Fine, but we're walking."

After this, Sasuke put a shirt on and they began traveling.

Kenshi sat on his bed and daydreamed, a frown on his face.

"What if I can't beat them for real next time? Kurushimi said the jutsu he used wouldn't allow me to have a complete sense of my abilities, but..."

The male gave a low growl. He grabbed a nearby kunai and threw it into the nearest breakable item he could find. It shattered and pieces flew in all directions, making small clinking noises as they hit the ground.

"Is he expecting me to do all the work?! I thought that we were friends! Then why is he so secretive?! He tells me that he trusts me, but he hasn't told me anything about our true plan! After all we've been through..."

He let out a long sigh.

"What am I even doing anyway? This feels like a huge waste of time. Well... No, it isn't a waste. Uchiha deserves to suffer for all that he's done. But... None of it really connects to what happened to me and Kurushimi."

His frown grew wider the longer he thought.

"I shouldn't doubt Kurushimi's judgement. Oh well, I'm just going along with whatever he does. Hm..."

Kenshi's expression switched to one that was impossible to decipher.

"I'm curious about Sasuke and Sakura. They seemed a lot like me and her."

The corners of his mouth twitched upward to form a small smile. Glancing around the room, his eyes landed on a framed photo of him with her. His smile grew larger at the thought of when the picture had been taken. It had been made when they were only about ten years old.

"I remember framing that myself. I made sure that it looked perfect."

He was mesmerized by the sight of the photo. It brought back so many memories. Memories... The screams and yells of everyone entered his mind for the billionth time. He clenched his fists as he saw the red eyes again. Gritting his teeth, Kenshi remembered his own terrified expression.

"Why?! Why did that have to happen?!"

Sakura placed her sleeping bag on top of a small patch of soft dirt. Yawning, she noticed that crickets began to chirp quietly. Sasuke had refused to take another early rest and they had traveled until almost midnight.

"We're behind where we planned to be," he said, clearly irritated.

"Sorry, but you can't go on like everything is normal. You're hurt and I don't want you to further injure yourself."

He glared and sat his things down on a tree stump. "I'm fine and I can keep going."

"Well, I'm not like you and I'm very tired."

Glancing at his teammate, Sasuke realized just how exhausted Sakura was.

"How badly was I injured?" he asked.

"It took awhile for me to heal you."

His lips separated slightly. "I shouldn't be asking her to do this. She's fatigued from healing me and herself."

Sakura sat down and rubbed her drooping eyes. To her bewilderment, Sasuke made his way towards the other member of Team 7 and stopped standing directly in front of her. The pink haired kunoichi turned a light shade of red when her partner sat down beside her.

He smirked when the coloring disappeared from her features. "What?"

She scratched her head nervously. "Nothing, I just... It's unusual for you..."

"What would it take to make it usual?"

She blushed again and turned away.

His smirk returned and his hand unconsciously began to move. Ever so slowly, it inched towards her hand. When he finally noticed, he halted his movement.

"I should stop, but... I don't want to."

This time, he was aware of his hand moving. Sasuke repeatedly glanced at Sakura to check if she had noticed. Seeing that she hadn't, he did not hesitate anymore.

They both tensed when the contact came, but neither pulled away. She turned her head back around to face him, clearly shocked. He was unfaltered and his expression remained calm as he watched her look at their hands. His big and calloused one was set on top of her small and soft one.

"Sakura?"

Shakily, she tilted her head up to meet his gaze.

"I don't want this to be weird."

Her expression softened and she calmed. "I don't want it to be weird either."

Before long, their hands were completely entwined.

Sakura did not know what to make of the situation. "What does he mean by, this? Are we friends or, more?"

She would've thought longer on the matter, but exhaustion got the best of her. Her head leaned against his shoulder and she was out like a light.

Sasuke watched her sleeping form for the next few minutes before he cautiously removed his hand from hers. Instead of completely withdrawing, he wrapped his arm around her shoulder and tugged her closer, careful not to wake her.

In truth, he didn't know why he had wanted to do any of this. A sudden urge had just popped into his head and he let it take control.

"Sakura, you're really annoying," Sasuke thought, smirking widely. "But, I like it when this isn't weird. I actually feel like... Like we're real friends."

He nearly smiled. To use the word "friend" was very rare for him. In all honesty, it felt really good to at least think about it. Him and Naruto are best friends, but there is no chance in heck that you will ever hear Sasuke say that. Sakura though? She was different. He still would not say it, pride getting in the way. However, he willingly thought about it and he often wanted to think that they were good friends.

Sasuke frowned and narrowed his eyes. "I shouldn't be allowed to be your friend. I want to though. You've forgiven me, but..."

An inward sigh. He took another glance at Sakura. The glance turned into a stare. She looked so vulnerable while she was asleep. At the same time, she was beautiful.

"Every time I'm around you, I get this feeling. Those signs you told me about, they were all true. Maybe I really do love you in this way."

Over the next few moments, he wondered if what he felt was really love. A sudden realization hit him hard.

"It doesn't matter if I love you like that. I don't deserve you and I never will. I still don't understand why you love someone like me. You can have someone that's a lot better than I am. After all... All I've done is hurt you. I just want you to be happy."

He clenched his fists as the memories came back to haunt him again. Every single instant that he had caused her pain, every moment he had seen her cry because of him, every time she had confessed her love for him crawled back into the front of his mind.

"Sakura, I'm so sorry... I will NEVER forgive myself..."

Shortly after, he fell asleep. Once more for the second time, he did not have a nightmare.

He held a wound on his side as he crawled over to her.

They had been ambushed a few days ago and seriously injured in the process. She had still not woken up and he was beginning to think that his worst fear had come true. The male's vision was blurring. He had taken the action of wrapping both of their many wounds, but if they did not get medical attention from someone more experienced, then they would both die soon.

"We have to go... Quick..." he thought to himself.

He felt around on the ground for a scroll in the blackness of the night. Then, he attempted to find something to draw with.

Sakura woke up to find Sasuke with his arms around her again. Just like the previous time, he was watching her.

"Morning," she muttered sleepily.

"Hn. Can I take these bandages off now?"

She nodded and he shuffled away from their resting place, pulling off his shirt. Sakura quickly turned her head, resisting the urge to stare at his well-toned body.

Sasuke had immediately noticed her embarrassment and a wide smirk settled on his face. He wanted to tease her, but decided to spare her this time.

"We're still not traveling any faster," she said with her head still tilted away.

He gasped, putting on another shirt and unraveling the last bandage. "Sakura, I'm fine."

"I'm not taking any risks."

"We're taking more of a risk by staying out here longer. I've already said that we've fallen behind schedule."

"I know, but what if we are attacked again? You can't be injured and fight like you did yesterday."

"You underestimate me," he scoffed, fuming.

"Well I'm sorry for caring about your health!" she shouted, standing up and stomping off.

He watched her and frowned. Grabbing the dark blue piece of material and tying it around his head, Sasuke considered whether or not he should go after her. In the end, he decided to stay put.

For the entire day, they had traveled in silence and it almost seemed like they ignored the other's presence. Now, it was very late at night.

"We should stop here," Sakura said, suddenly acknowledging him.

"We're too far behind."

"We can make up for it later. Right now we have to get some rest."

He huffed and kept his resistance. An idea popped into his head.

Sakura stared on in curiousity as Sasuke bit his thumb strong enough to make it bleed. He weaved his hands through many hand signs and slammed his palm into the ground. A puff of smoke and a giant hawk stood in front of them.

"Sasuke," the hawk greeted.

"Daisuke," the Uchiha responded, addressing the summoning animal.

Sakura closed her gaping mouth, gathering her thoughts. "Kakashi sensei said that we shouldn't fly."

He glanced back at his partner. "He said not to search in the air. He never said anything about flying on the way back."

She sighed and rubbed her hands together worriedly.

"I won't let anything happen to us. I promise," Sasuke reassured.

The hawk named Daisuke raised an eyebrow as he scanned the scene.

"I'll be right back," Sakura spoke up, excusing herself.

After she had furthered her distance from them, Daisuke raised a wing to cover his words. The hawk was not very young, nor very old. He sounded to be around Sasuke's age, or that old in hawk years.

"Hey Sasuke, is this the girl you're always talking about?"

The Uchiha glared at the hawk from the corner of his eye. "I'm not always talking about her, but yes. I speak about Sakura sometimes."

Daisuke chuckled. "Sometimes huh? Whatever you say. You know, she is pretty attractive. Nothing's going on then?"

Sasuke exhaled loudly. "Even a summoning animal is asking me that."

"So I'm not the only one that's curious?"

He angrily replied, "You've known her about five seconds and you're already assuming things!?"

Before Daisuke could retort, Sakura had made her way back to them. Giving the pair a questioning look, she watched as they awkwardly shuffled around, attempting to appear as if everything were normal.

Daisuke had mischievous ideas going through his head, but he decided that he should be loyal to his master.

Sasuke jumped on top of the hawk and sat down. "Are you coming?"

Slowly, Sakura began to move. Sasuke helped her up and gave Daisuke directions and a summary of their current situation.

They were flying low in case there was any chance that the enemy was around their location. No one spoke and all they could hear in the dark of night was the whistle of the wind.

Almost an hour or so after they had started flying, Sasuke had a sudden wave of concern rush through him. He twisted his head around to check on his teammate. Reassurance and another feeling came over him when he saw her sitting directly behind him, staring into space.

"Are you okay?" he asked quietly.

"Hm?" Her head jerked towards his direction. "Oh, yeah. I'm just tired is all."

"Hn..."

Daisuke cocked his head to the side. "Can you two start an actual conversation? If it's silent for another hour then I might fall asleep and crash into something."

Sasuke rolled his mismatched eyes, cursing the hawk. He thought that he had only said that to make them become "closer" to each other. Apparently, that's all anyone cared about when they saw the two around one another.

Sakura nervously glanced at the annoyed male sitting in front of her. She scratched her head and hesitantly started a conversation. "Did I ever tell you about that time when Naruto and I got sucked into an alternate universe?"

Sasuke's attention peaked. "Alternate universe?"

Daisuke intently listened in to the brewing conversation. The mention of an alternate universe intrigued him as much as it did his master.

She grinned and went into detail with the story. Her teammate paid attention to every word. The hawk concentrated as hard as Sasuke to hear the story.

"... And everyone's personalities were the complete opposite. Naruto's parents were there and you were, too."

"I was there?" he asked with an indifferent tone. In truth, he was still very interested.

"Yeah. Your personality was switched, too."

"How so?"

She turned red and turned her gaze downward. "Well... You were a player, I guess you could say."

She caught a glimpse of him raising his eyebrows in confusion and explained further. "It means that you were flirting with pretty much every girl in the village. Including me."

Sasuke's cheeks warmed as he pivoted his head to observe the ground below.

Daisuke suppressed a laugh. "It was definitely an alternate universe if Sasuke was acting like that."

Sakura continued the story. She had gotten all the way to the part where the Akatsuki had come to help.

"So every member of the Akatsuki was alive in that universe and they were allies to the village?"

"That's right. After that, Naruto freed me and Itachi was in charge of guarding me."

"Itachi?" He nearly fell off of the hawk because of how fast he twisted his head around.

She nodded and went on.

Sasuke was extremely irritated when he heard about his older brother "holding" her. The disgruntled Uchiha needed answers and he needed them now.

"So Itachi grabbed you?!"

Sakura jolted by his outburst. "He was trying to keep me out of danger."

He had ignored her argument. "Then he picked you up?!"

The kunoichi was hopelessly confused. "Well, yeah. If he didn't then Deidara would've hit both of us."

Before Sasuke could confront her again, Daisuke made a loud noise, almost sounding like he was clearing his throat. Sasuke angrily turned to face the front, taking the hawk's warning.

"I'll reanimate Itachi so I can kill him again! I don't care if it was an alternate universe!" he furiously thought.

"Weasel," Sasuke grumbled to himself, not knowing that he had said anything aloud.

"What?" Sakura spoke up.

He didn't know what had happened at first. When he realized, he racked his brain trying to come up with an excuse. "Uh, weasel. I thought I saw a weasel."

Daisuke shook his head and sighed. "Smooth one Sasuke..."

After an awkward pause, Sakura finished the tale. By the end of it, Sasuke was still feeling livid towards his older brother.

"Sasuke, are you okay?"

He attempted to make his facial features look neutral. "I'm just thinking about the battle yesterday," he lied.

It was probably past two in the morning by now.

She yawned. "We shouldn't worry about that right now." Another yawn.

Without turning, Sasuke reached behind him and grabbed both of her wrists, wrapping them around his waist. "You don't have to ask me you know. Get some rest."

She was reluctant at first. Then, she slowly let her head come to rest on his shoulder. He let go of her wrists when she crossed her arms around him. Only a few minutes after, he heard the rhythmic breathing that meant she was asleep.

Daisuke chuckled quietly. "I thought I saw a weasel," he mocked.

The Uchiha rolled his mismatched eyes as the hawk continued.

"That sounded a little bit like jealousy to me."

"I don't know what you're talking about," he replied softly, trying not to wake his teammate.

"Whatever you say. I don't feel like arguing with you. I will say this though. Don't wait until it's too late."

After this, they did not speak for awhile. Sasuke placed a hand on top of Sakura's during this time, gently rubbing his thumb over them. He watched her moving up and down with each breath she took. She looked so vulnerable in this state, which made him want to protect her from all possible harm. If there was anyone that didn't deserve to get hurt, it was definitely her. In his eyes, she could do no wrong.

He removed his hand and gave her one last glance before turning to face the front. Narrowing his eyes, he thought, "I don't want anything to happen to you because of me again..."

Sakura woke up to see that she was in the exact same position that she was in when she fell asleep. They were still flying, Daisuke looking fully aware. Looking to the side, she saw Sasuke awake, half closed eyes.

"What time is it?" she inquired groggily.

"Almost time for sunrise," he answered sleepily. "Have a nice nap?" he added.

She grinned. "I did. It's obvious that you haven't slept."

"Hn, I'm alright."

She wasn't in the mood to bicker, so she kept her silence.

"Sakura, I try not to dwell on the past so much, but I can't help it."

"I do that sometimes, too."

"The reason I mentioned it is because I want to tell you something."

She untangled her arms from around his waist, her head still resting on his shoulder.

"You know back then how me and Naruto would get into fights? Not just simple quarrels either?"

She nodded hesitantly, confused as to where the conversation was headed.

"I've wanted to tell you that I think you're the only thing that kept Team 7 together for so long. Not even Kakashi influenced me as much as you did."

She turned red and gasped. "Me?"

"Who else could I be talking to or about?" he spat harshly.

She frowned at his scolding.

He huffed. "I'm sorry. I'm tired and frustrated. I have no reason whatsoever to be upset with you."

A long pause.

Daisuke had soundlessly listened in on their entire conversation. Sasuke had spoken a lot about this girl. Obviously, the Uchiha was hopelessly trying to figure out his feelings towards her. The hawk sorrowfully thought about one night when Sasuke had summoned him for help catching some criminals. The male had fallen into a restless slumber and uttered the girl's name every few minutes. After countless hours of traveling, he had shot up and screamed her name. The hawk had not asked any questions to his master, seeing as how sensitive he was when it came to the woman by the name of Sakura Haruno. His thoughts were interrupted when the pair continued.

"Sasuke, do you ever wish that you could go back to those days?" She smiled. "I mean, it feels like just yesterday we were made genin and here we are now. We recently became adults and some of us are married."

He thought long and hard about this question. His voice came out as a low whisper. "I left everything behind on that night, the night I left. If I could go back and change all of it, then I'd take that opportunity."

Sakura's smile morphed into a frown. "Well... I wish that I could've stopped you. Almost everyday after that, I blamed myself for what happened."

He shook his head and twisted it to face hers. "Nothing that happened was your fault. And, you almost did make me stay. It was when you told me that you..." he trailed off. There was no way he could gain the confidence to complete the sentence. The truth was, when she had confessed that she loved him, he nearly forgot all about his revenge.

He finally got the guts to speak again. "It wasn't just then, but the second time, too."

Her lips were seperated and she stared in awe at him. "Why?"

Sasuke's heart began to thump violently. "I don't know."

He clenched a handful of his shirt as the thumping continued. The many thoughts of his feelings came back simultaneously. It was all too much for him to handle. His breathing stopped when Sakura placed her hand on the side of his face.

"Are you sure you're fine?" she asked worriedly.

His thoughts were jumbled up and he couldn't think straight. However, something else took over. His hand unconsciously moved to rest on the side of her face. All they could do was sit still and stare into the other's eyes. Sakura was too shocked at his sudden movment. Sasuke didn't know what he was doing, but there was no stopping it.

An amused Daisuke watched the situation from the corner of his eye.

Sasuke moved his other hand to the opposite side of her face. "Does this have to be weird?"

No more words were needed. They slowly pulled each other in, but before their lips could meet, Daisuke gasped.

The pair quickly removed their hands and revolved around to look behind them. They copied the hawk and exhaled sharply.

"SAKURA! SASUKE!"

"Sai?!" Sakura half whispered, half shouted.

Sasuke's mouth was hanging open slightly. Sai looked desperate, bruised, bloody, and battered. The Uchiha turned his gaze to behind the former ANBU. He heard Sakura's breathing hitch when she saw the sight. Ino Yamanaka was lying on the back of the ink bird, appearing to be in the same condition as her boyfriend, only she had her eyes closed and was motionless.

Sakura put a hand over her mouth as tears began to spill from her emerald eyes.

Author's Note: The first chapter of my post 700 story is out if any of you want to read it!Hope you enjoyed!