Hey there. So, what's happening guys? I got nothing last chapter! No reviews at all. Made me sad :( Half of me was saying 'Don't put this chapter up!' But that's my mean side, and I'd already said that even if I got no reviews, I'd still post. Aren't I nice? I know the last chapter was a bit slow, but I'd just had four chapters of non stop GO GO GO and no matter how good or bad of a writer someone is, they can't have action happening constantly, otherwise they'd run out of ideas and end up reverting to something like 'Then a magical pixie wearing a raccoon coat came charging ontop of a giant pogo stick, wielding the magical bobby pin of Sheeba. Sakura boomed in a magical voice that she got from some random place "Stop! I haven't had breakfast yet!" The pixie stopped, feeling sorry for the girl. So he gave her an apple.' See what I mean? It just won't work.

If you hadn't figured already, I'm in a bit of a pissy mood. I did my flute exam for seventh grade and only got a B. B! Do you realise how hard I've been practising? For hours and hours every week! (Stupid Berkeley suite :Z) And then I have a ton of school work to do, and my computer crashed and I only have the first eighteen chapters on my USB. I have to write out everything after chapter 18 again! *end rant. *Takes deep breath*. Okay, I'm calm again.

Anyways, I don't own Naruto, I do own this story, yadda yadda yadda, you know the drill.

(Smiley face)

Sakura was asleep on the couch when Sasuke came home. It had been a month since she had come to the base and she had finally started to settle. Sasuke couldn't help but admire how much she had grown. She was very mature, and no longer fan girling him, for which he was grateful. In fact, she was reasonably pleasant to live with. She could cook well, and didn't pester him with millions of questions. She didn't even flirt with him. If she interacted with him she treated him how she would treat any man who was her friend. Generally, she just left him alone, which was fine by him.

She had grown on him, that was for sure. And that was the only thing that he didn't like. She was trying to make him be friends with her again. Form bonds. He couldn't and wouldn't have that. So far, it was nothing. He was like stone, and he wouldn't erode. As soon as it seemed like she would start getting through to him, he would break her spirit, and prove to her that there was no point in trying. She would not break him.

He couldn't let her break through, because that would spell his undoing.

One month later

Naruto walked into Tsunade's office.

"What is it, Baa – Chan?" He asked her, flopping into a chair.

Tsunade turned stern eyes on him. Her face was impassive. "Naruto, it's been two months, and we've had no leads. I can't keep people going out looking for her. It's dangerous for Konoha. We've -"

"Baa - Chan! You will NOT give up on Sakura! We WILL find her! Don't give up on her! She is out there and we will find her! We are so close, I can feel it! Don't do this, Baa – Chan!" Naruto screamed at her, shaking with rage. He could feel the power of the kyuubi start to leak out, but he couldn't help it. She could not give up on Sakura, Dammit!

Tsunade pounded her fist on the table, making cracks appear in the wood. Shards of anger glinted in her eyes. "Don't you Dare, for one moment, believe that I would ever give up on Sakura, Naruto! She is like my own daughter! I would rather sever all of my own limbs, without antiseptic, than call off this search! Hell, Naruto, if I was able to, I would be out there searching for her myself! But I can't! I am not able to! I have spent so much money and ninja looking for Sakura and all that it has lead to is a small river! We have nothing further than that! I want to believe that we will find her, but there is no evidence to support that hope! If I keep searching for her, then Konoha will go bankrupt, and I will be sacked! Do you want that to happen?" Tsunade screeched, trying hard to not embed this knowledge into Naruto's skull with her fist.

Naruto instantly sobered. "No, Tsunade," Naruto mumbled, eyes downcast.

Tsunade took a deep breath to calm herself, and continued. "I promise you, Naruto. If we ever find a lead on Sakura, the search will continue. For now, I can't afford to do that. Please try and understand."

Naruto nodded and left the room without another word.

Sakura walked into the room, keeping her eyes off Sasuke. She was trying to prepare herself for the question she was about to ask him.

Deep breath, she told herself. It's not like you're asking to be let go, you just want a bit of freedom. That's all. "Uh, Sasuke?"

"Hm?" His voice was as unresponsive as ever.

"I was wondering if, seeing as I've been here for around two months, and I haven't seen anything, really, apart from this room, I was wondering if I could be let out every now and then. It's not like I can escape or anything. I mean, if no then that's fine, but I'd really appreciate being able to get out of this room for once…" She said quickly, before shutting her mouth, realising that she was rambling.

Sasuke stayed silent for a while, to the point where she didn't think that he would answer. She went to walk away, when he spoke.

"You could get lost."

"I can ask for directions."

He looked at her cynically.

"And besides," she continued, "I have a good memory. I'll just memorise the paths that I take."

"Huh."

In the past few weeks, Sakura realised that she had been making progress with his vocabulary towards her. His normal monosyllables 'hn' and 'aa' were now joined by 'hm', 'huh' and 'oh'. Sometimes, he even said a whole sentence to her, which basically made her chuck a party in her head.

There was more silence, followed by an "I'll think about it."

CHYAH! Two whole sentences in one conversation! I'm on a role! Inner Sakura celebrated.

"Arigato, Sasuke."

The next morning, Sasuke gave her permission… By opening the door and looking at her expectantly. She immediately raced from the room, telling him that she would be back in time to make dinner, before she was on her way.

As she turned the first corner, she looked back to Sasuke. He was still in the same spot as before, but he had a light smile on his face. Sakura almost did a double take when she saw that. Sasuke? Smiling? That just didn't seem possible. He closed the door, still smiling, and walked in the opposite direction.

Sakura bounded down the tunnels, relishing in this small bit of freedom. She wished she could see the stars and the sun, but that would be pushing it a bit far. Sakura was so caught up in her own thoughts, she didn't realise that there was someone coming until she knocked into them as she turned a corner. Both went sprawling backwards, and the other girl dropped the collection of clothing that was in her hands.

"Oh!" Cried the girl, who couldn't have been older than seventeen. "Gomen! Gomen! I am so sorry, Miss. Please forgive my clumsiness; I did not see you there!" The girl apologised over and over again, distraught at the situation.

Sakura stared at her incredulously, before erupting in fits of laughter. The girl looked at Sakura, confusion in her eyes, before bending down the pick up the fallen clothes.

"G… Gomen, miss, forgive my curiosity, b… But what is it that you f… Find so funny?" Stuttered the girl, terrified.

"No, no, it's fine. I'm laughing because you're acting as if you've committed a huge crime!" Sakura laughed.

The girl looked confused. "But haven't I, Miss? Aren't you going to beat me?" Some hope seemed to be forming in her eyes: Hope that she wouldn't be beaten, perhaps?

Sakura looked at her, horrified. "What? No! Of course not! Why on earth would I do that?"

The girl shrugged. "Everyone else does." She mumbled.

Sakura was shocked, but quickly snapped out of it. "Here, let me help you with that." She rushed over the help the girl re fold the clothes into a neat pile. "I'm Sakura, by the way. What's your name?" She asked.

"My name is Aya. I am pleased to make your acquaintance." Aya responded formally. She was a very pretty girl. She had dark mahogany hair that fell in ringlets to her waist. Her dark lavender eyes were surrounded by thick lashes. She had creamy skin which currently had a rose petal blush creeping along her cheeks.

Her name sounded familiar to Sakura, and she spent a good while wracking her brains as to how she knew it, while she smiled and said "wow, you really like the formalities, don't you, Aya?" She kept grinning until she got a look at Aya and saw that she was about to apologise again. "It was a joke, Aya. I wasn't really getting angry at you." She reassured the girl.

Aya turned beet red and Sakura wondered what could have made her so timid. Then she saw the massive bruise circling around Aya's neck.

"Aya, what happened to you?" Sakura scooted forwards, trying to get a better look at the bruise.

Aya collected the clothes into her arms and tried to walk away. "It's nothing."

"Aya, please! I won't hurt you! Let me help!" Sakura called after her.

Aya slowed down and pressed her forehead against the wall. As Sakura got closer, she saw tears slowly tracing their way down her cheeks.

"It… It's nothing, Sakura." She gulped.

Sakura lightly traced the bruise with her fingertips, and saw that it was in the shape of a hand.

"Aya," Sakura breathed, "who did this to you?"

Aya shook her head, as if forcing herself to not say.

"Aya, please, I won't hurt you. I'm worried about you." Sakura said softly.

"His name is Shinji. I was meant to be a test subject but he asked Orochimaru if I could stay with him instead. Now I'm his servant… And he does worse than beat me. He likes to use my body for his… Urges. I don't know what to do. I don't have anyone to talk to. My whole village is either destroyed or its people are being used as test subjects. I have no family and no friends." Aya finished sadly, holding back a sob.

Sakura gently stroked her hair away from her face. "If it's any comfort, I don't have any friends here. And I would love to be your friend, if you'd like. I live in Konoha, but I'm a prisoner here. Aya, if I ever get out of here, I promise I'll get you out too."

Aya turned her tear stained face towards Sakura. "Y… You mean it? You would be my friend?" She asked hopefully.

Sakura nodded, smiling kindly. "I'd love to be your friend."

Aya smiled at her.

"Now let's go and take these clothes back, then we could walk around for a bit." Sakura suggested, and took some of the clothes off Aya.

A week later saw Sakura and Aya sitting facing opposite each other in one of the halls.

"I remember what it was like, back in my village." Aya began. "It was a very small village. We only had about forty people. Everyone knew everyone. I remember that every morning, mama would send me down to the riverside, so that I could collect some water. She would make a whole pot of rice, and I would make the soup, and we could feed the whole village. During the day, I would teach all the little girls how to make flower necklaces." Aya smiled and leaned back against the wall. "It was so peaceful."

Sakura smiled at her. "It sounds beautiful." She said.

"It was." Aya agreed.

Sakura was surprised at the change that had come over Aya so quickly. She had changed from a shy and stuttering little girl to a funny and confident young woman. It was easy to make her laugh and she was so easy to talk to! Sakura was very glad to have her as a friend. But there was still a shadow of the frightened little girl in her eyes, and that's what scared Sakura. She knew that it was mainly Shinji's fault that she was so traumatised. And now she needed to see how everything was going.

"Aya?" Aya looked at her to show that she was paying attention.

"Forgive me for asking, but how are things going with Shinji? Is he treating you any better?"

Aya looked down sadly. "He's seen a change come over me, and he's determined to find out why. He liked me better when I was scared and timid, and around him, I still am. Just not to the degree I was a week ago. I have you to thank for that." She flashed a grin a Sakura, and Sakura was glad that she could help.

"So, Aya, tell me, back in your village, did you have a boyfriend?" Sakura asked.

Aya turned her face away, blushing.

"You did!"

Aya had a smile on her face that she was obviously trying to repress.

"So, tell me, what was his name? What did he look like? What was he like?" Sakura fired the questions at Aya like a canon.

"Sakura!" Aya exclaimed. "If you must know, his name was Masa. Takeda Masa. He… He was really sweet. He had brown hair and these beautiful grey eyes. We weren't exactly 'dating', but we really liked each other." She smiled at the memory. "He'd always try and make the flower necklaces with me, but he could never get it. It was very funny. So he'd always try and make it up to me by cooking something or doing something else. I remember one time he tried to make me a soup and he nearly burnt our house down! He was so clumsy, but he was very sweet. He'd always make me laugh." Her eyes glazed over at the memory, and then went very sad. "He was the warrior of the village, so when Orochimaru attacked, he was the first to die."

"Aya, I'm so sorry…" Sakura began, before Aya continued.

"Don't be. He died protecting the village… And me. He wouldn't have wanted it any other way." There was silence between the two for a moment until Aya spoke up again. "What about you? Do you have anyone back at Konoha?"

Sakura shook her head. "Not really. I mean, I have a friend, Naruto, who is interested in me, but I only ever saw him as a friend. A friend of mine, Hinata, is in love with him, so I keep trying to push him towards Hinata. But he's pretty clueless." She smiled. "He's an excellent ninja, but he doesn't know the first thing about dating. It's pretty cute. And my friend Lee. He's such a clown. He has incredible skill with Taijutsu, though. He's obsessed with the 'Power of Youth', and he's very determined. He's a great friend though, but I'd love to give his eyebrows a wax!" Sakura giggled.

Aya looked at her before saying, "go on, I can tell you're not finished."

Sakura giggled nervously. "Back at Konoha is how I met Sasuke. You know, Orochimaru's 'pet'. He was so attractive and mysterious; he had his own fan club, which I was, unfortunately a part of. Him, Naruto and myself were on the same squad. Team Seven. Those were the days. Naruto would chase after me, I'd chase after Sasuke, and Sasuke would push us both away. But we were all friends. It all changed at the Chuunin exams. Orochimaru lusted after Sasuke and his Sharingan. He put a curse seal on him, and eventually Sasuke went to him seeking power, so that he could kill his brother. Naruto and I never stopped trying to get him back." Sakura sighed. "I was always so depressed, because I was madly in love with Sasuke. I just wanted him home. Last year, I got sick of holding out for someone who would probably try to kill me... Who had tried to kill me! I decided to try and move on with life. It was a lot of work, but I got there. I became happier. A more powerful ninja.

"I joined ANBU and worked in the hospital. One day I had to do a mission in Suna. I stopped in with the Kazekage, my friend Gaara. We became close. I think he liked me, and I started to like him a bit. Not to the extent that I loved Sasuke, but I could've seen myself with him. I would've been happy with him. We saw each other a few times, and liked each other more and more. Then this happened. It's hard being around Sasuke and not lusting after him, I mean, have you seen him! He is like, the embodiment of Sex. So I try not to look at him. It makes it easier to concentrate on how much of a jerk he actually is." Sakura and Aya erupted in a fit of giggles.

"He's not quite the embodiment of Sex," said Aya. "I can point out a flaw." She sounded very proud of herself.

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "Oh? There's an imperfection in the perfect?"

"Sure!" She lifted her hands up to the back of her head. "It looks like someone glued a chicken's arse to the back of his head! That's what his hair style looks like!"

Sakura's eyes opened wide, before she burst out laughing. "It's… So… True!" She wheezed in agreement. "Oh no!" She sobered. "The next time I look at him, I might start pretending to be a chicken in front of him to see if his hair responds!" The two girls stared at each other, before erupting into another fit of laughter.

"Sakura?" Aya asked.

"Hmm?"

"When is your birthday?"

"Huh? Oh, it's on the 28th, this month." Sakura said nonchalantly.

"That's only in a few weeks!" Aya exclaimed.

"Hai!" Sakura chirruped. "But anyways, I have to go. Sasuke will be pissed if I don't have his dinner ready. Sayonara, Aya!" Said Sakura, before running in the direction of Sasuke's room.

So what do you think? Better than the last chapter? Yes? No? About the same? Magical Bobby Pin of Sheeba? Meh, I'm a tad tired. So leave me some feedback, and get me smiling again X)

Hey, guess what I'm going to do from now on? I'm going to leave a preview of the next chapter! So, here it is:

Preview - Chapter 7: Innocent

He regarded her curiously, wondering why she was so damn happy. Shaking his head and coming to the conclusion that it was just a random mood swing on Sakura's part, he went to leave the kitchen.

"Hey, guess what, Sasuke Kun?" Sakura asked. Sasuke's back stiffened, and then he was on her, his hands encircling her throat. She stopped smiling.

Stay tuned!

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