Chapter 7

Sakura blinked her eyes open. She could tell that it was late in the evening by the way her body felt. She sat up slowly, eyes scanning the room. She sighed in relief when she found no sign of Orochimaru. Bending down she took off her sandals that were still on her feet. They thudded to the ground as she tossed them away from her.

She glanced around the small room and decided it was time she changed her clothes. Silently she walked to the closet and began to look through it. All there was were tight clothing.

'Why can't there be something baggy for once? I don't always like feeling exposed.'

As her hands neared the back of the closet she found an old shirt. She pulled it out and was ecstatic that it was a few sizes bigger than what she usually wore. Letting her old cloths fall to the ground she pulled the shirt on. She was still wearing the tight black pants underneath and that was fine by her, as long as she was able to feel free.

She picked up her shirt that she had dropped on the ground and put it in the basket that she assumed was for dirty cloths. Running a hand through her pink locks she decided that it couldn't hurt to adventure around the compound at night. Surely most of the people here would be asleep at this hour. With her hand on the doorknob she turned it slowly and pulled the door open. Poking her head out she looked up and down the hall and seeing that no one was there she walked out of the room, closing the door softly behind her.

As she started to walk down the hall she heard a chirping noise coming from one of the rooms. She halted in her walking, realizing what the sound was. Her feet were beginning to go numb from how cold the floor was. Why didn't she put her shoes on? She shrugged her shoulders and continued to walk slowly and quietly down the hallway.

The chirping got louder the closer she got. Leaning over the side of the wall she looked into the room that the noise was coming from. Four straw dummies were set up with targets on their heads. Sasuke stood in the middle with his hand outstretched, Chidori filling his palm. There was a flash and all four dummies heads slid off the sticks they were propped on. Sakura eyes widened at the new technique Sasuke had acquired since he left the village. There was so much about Sasuke that was still unknown...

Sasuke suddenly turned and their eyes met. Sakura finally let her eyes fall to the ground.

"What are you doing up?" Sasuke asked his voice cold.

When Sakura didn't answer Sasuke lowered his hand and walked so he was standing in front of her. He eyed her up and down, noticing how Sakura's cheeks turned a light shade of pink as he did so. He smirked as he folded his arms across his chest.

"You really shouldn't be walking around like that. Guys here might take that as a signal that you want them to jump you."

Sakura bit her lip, still not bringing her eyes up from the floor. Sasuke looked down and noticed that she wasn't wearing any shoes.

"Aren't your feet cold? Are you trying to make yourself sick?" he scolded.

Sakura took a deep breath.

"What are you doing learning something like that? Are you trying to make it so you can slaughter a handful of people at once? What could you be planning to learn an attack like that?"

Sasuke's eyes hardened.

"I don't have to answer to you." He snarled.

Sakura flinched slightly.

"There must be a reason why you would do something like this. Why are you trying so hard to become so strong? I'm sure you could beat Itachi by now."

"Wrong. Itachi is way ahead of me in the power department. I haven't even scratched the surface. If I faced him now he'd just laugh at me. There's so much more I need to learn before I could go up against him."

Sakura walked into the room he was just practicing in. She walked over to one of the dummies and put her hand on the gash mark.

"Sasuke...look at what you did. Can you imagine using this on a living person? It would be disastrous--it would cause so much pain..." Her emerald eyes turned sad.

"Would you use this against me and Naruto if you had to? Naruto who will stop at nothing to get you to come back to Konoha...me, who can't help but have feelings for you when I know you're long lost. Could you do it Sasuke?"

Sasuke leaned against the wall and slid down. Sakura turned so that she could see his face. When he sat down on the ground she slowly walked over to him. Uncertainly she sat down next to him, leaning her head against the cold stone wall.

"If you did use it against us...I would want you to kill me quickly. It's hard to see you like this...becoming like you are. There are so many times when I swear I can see the old you in your eyes. But then as soon as I see it, it leaves. Is it so bad to want to protect us? To want to feel loved and cared about?" She questioned softly.

"Those bonds only cause confusion; they try to confuse you from the one goal that you want to achieve. I can't afford that distraction." Sasuke stated.

Sakura opened her palms and reached out towards Sasuke's arm. He looked at her with slight confusion in his eyes.

"Your arm is bleeding." Sakura responded to his confused look. Sasuke looked down at his arm and noticed the blood. He shrugged his shoulders as Sakura leaned forward and placed her hands on his injured arm.

"I know you want to kill Itachi but could you please slow down a little? You can't be pushing yourself this hard; you'll end up tiring yourself out." Sakura explained as her charka began to heal his wounds.

Sasuke was surprised by how he allowed her to touch him the way she did. Usually when Kabuto healed him he found it annoying and...sick at the same time. But when it was Sakura he couldn't help but like the feeling it sent through his system. It was almost like she was trying to make it soothing, unlike Kabuto who healed just so the injury was healed and done with.

Sasuke watched her face as she concentrated on the healing.

"You really enjoy it don't you? Healing people." Sasuke spoke suddenly. Sakura jumped slightly from his question but then she broke out into a smile.

"It makes me feel like I'm actually giving something back. For once I don't have to stand on the sidelines and have everyone protect me. Now I can heal them when they get hurt and I have super strength that can help out. I'm not the same girl I was when you were around Sasuke, when you left--it caused me to grow up. I knew that crying around wasn't going to change the fact that you left. I knew I was too weak to stop you so, I decided that day that I would become stronger, so that way I could help Naruto in bringing you back."

"When I saw the shape Naruto was in from the fight you two had I couldn't help but feel guilty. It was my fault that he got himself so hurt...my fault because I asked him to bring you back--and he promised me that he would. I knew he had feelings for me and yet I still asked him to bring you back, because I was deeply in love with you. I never stopped to think about his feelings on the matter. I knew he cared about you but I also knew it hurt him that I paid so much attention to you and not to him," Sakura let her hair fall in front of her eyes, masking her from his view, "And I still had the nerve to beg him to bring you back. After that I knew I couldn't count on Naruto to bring you back on his own. I made myself promise that I would help bring you back. So, that's when I decided I couldn't be the little innocent girl I was."

Sasuke listened to the whole story. Annoyed he pushed her hair away from her face.

"I can't see your eyes when you let your hair fall in front of them like that."

Tingly sensations traveled down her skin when he pushed her hair away from her face. She looked up into his onyx eyes, stunned.

"It gets annoying."

Sasuke huffed as he let his hands fall away from her face. He turned away from her gaze and looked down at his hand. Sakura quickly composed herself and went back to concentrating on the healing. After a few more minutes she finally pulled her hands away from his arm.

"There, you're all better now."

Sasuke moved his arm to test it out. He nodded his head in satisfaction. Sakura smiled, her eyes closing.

"I'm glad it's to your standards."

"And to think you don't even have full control of your chakra. You can do a lot even with limited access." Sasuke commented.

Sakura shrugged her shoulders.

"Chakra control has always been easy for me. I never really figured out why."

Sasuke smirked, returning his gaze back to her face.

"You need to give yourself more credit. You've always been really good at it; you shouldn't need to figure out why. Just be glad that it comes easy for you. There are times when I still have problems with it," he admitted as he ran his hand through his hair.

Sakura's smile left her face, she was shocked again.

'Did Sasuke just admit to me that he still has some problems? It's like he's saying he still isn't that good at something...he's good at everything, right?'

"Don't seem so surprised. I get beat up about it all the time by Orochimaru. Why do you think I practice so hard when he's sleeping and not around?" Sasuke asked lightly.

Sakura opened her mouth to say something but nothing came out. Shutting her mouth she looked down at the baggy shirt.

"Well...if you need some help--I realize that you don't like people helping you and stuff but...well...if you really needed--I--I could help you." Sakura finally managed to get the words out.

Sasuke starred at her for a while, then, surprising himself he poked her lightly on the forehead with his index finger.

"Thanks squirt."

Sakura's eyes hardened, "Squirt? Did you really just call me that?!"

Sasuke chuckled as he stood up. Glancing down at her still on the floor he yawned.

"It's really late and you should go back to sleep."

Sakura turned her head away from him like a stubborn child.

"I've been sleeping for a very long time, there's no way I could go back to sleep."

Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"I don't care. I'm leaving." Then he turned and left her in the room alone.

"Jeez, you think with all the nice conversation we had that maybe, just maybe, I was able to get him to let his guard down. Then he goes and turns back into the cold bastard that he is." Sakura grumbled as she got up off the cold floor. She winced as she stood up on her stiff legs. She had been sitting for far too long.

There was a cracking noise causing her to jump a few feet into the air. Her eyes scanned the room and she decided that going back to her room wasn't such a bad idea.

'Oh why didn't I listen to Sasuke? If I would have then I'm sure he would have walked me to my room. But nooo, I had to be stubborn so now I'm gonna run.'

Sakura bolted out of the room and when she got to her room she shut the door behind her, panting. Her green eyes landed on her bed and sleep suddenly wanted to take over. Slowly, and lazily, she walked to her bed and fell down. As soon as her head hit the pillow she was out.

Sasuke starred up at his ceiling, his hands fiddling with the rope that was used to keep the purple material on. What was wrong with him? Why did he feel like his whole world was spinning on him, wanting to take him down a path that he left long ago?

'When I moved her hair away from her face...my fingers lightly touched her soft skin. There was something that happened when that occurred. Why do I feel so...unsettled about it? It's only Sakura right? Nothing real scary, she couldn't scare me anyway, so then why do I feel this way? I feel anxious, like something is going to happen and I don't have any control over it.'

Sasuke smirked in the darkness.

'I poked her on the forehead, just like...Itachi used to do to me when I was younger. I didn't even think of doing it, it just happened. I need to be extremely careful when I'm around her for now on. Who knows what could just 'happen' when I'm around her.'

Sasuke turned on his side when Orochimaru's voice filled his mind. "Oh by the way Sasuke, I expect you to break her."

Sasuke's eyes shot open.

'This could work to my advantage. She even told me that she still has feelings for me even though she knows it's a lost cause. Orochimaru wants me to break her...I'll break her all right.'

Sasuke closed his eyes, preparing himself to fall asleep. What he didn't know was that his dreams were going to be filled with a certain pink haired Konuchi.

Naruto gazed up at the stars in the sky. Kakashi was snoring lightly beside him.

"Sakura...I'm working harder each day so that I can become strong enough to bring you and Sasuke back. I'm sorry it's taking so long, please be safe...don't do anything that could get you in trouble."

Naruto sighed as the stars twinkled in the night sky. How he wished that he was strong enough already so that Sakura wouldn't have to be stuck in that dreadful place, wherever she was.

Naruto looked to his side to see Kakashi with his eyes closed.

'I envy him in a way. He's always so calm...so cool. He worries about Sakura as much as I do but he doesn't let it affect the way he does things. He just pushes his worries aside so he can deal with the problem at hand. I wish I was more like him. But...Sakura is my family, just as Kakashi Sensei is...and Sasuke. I can't afford to lose anyone of them. I'll do anything to get them back. I hope it's enough...I hope I'm not weak when I face Sasuke again. I need to be strong so that he'll listen to me, if not...than he'll never take me seriously. He'll just look down at me and see me as a weak child.'

Naruto ground his teeth together in anger.

'I will not let him see me weak like that again. Kakashi Sensei and I are working on something that will blow Sasuke out of the water when he sees it. Than...maybe he could be proud of me.'

Naruto's eyes started to sag as sleep tried to take him. He shook his head, trying to make the sleepiness leave, it didn't.

'I'll save you brother...from yourself'

Then his vision was filled with darkness as he allowed sleep to overtake him.

Well there's chapter 7! Its hard for me to believe that I'm already on this chapter. Right now I'm currently working on Chapter 8, that's almost done and I'll be sending it to my amazing beta reader Silver!! She's totally amazing and I would have had this chapter out before Christmas but she was super busy and couldn't beta it for a few days. But I completely understand, I'm sure you all understand as well.

Well I hope you enjoyed the little Sasuke and Sakura exchange. Its so hard to decide when the relationship should start in this story. But I think it'll be happening soon...or at least something that will lead up to it will happen very soon. :D So i believe you won't have to wait much longer for some Sasuke Sakura. If it does take a while longer I am sorry. But they can't just suddenly be with each other in a snap, you know? Anyway, please read and review! I'd love to know what you all thought. And I'll have another update in a few days I believe. Hopefully you'll enjoy that chapter more than this one, but I still think this one was good.

All right, till next time!