Author's Note: Hey guys! Here's another update. Again, I haven't any idea if all my updates will be frequent or as long, but I hope for them to be. Thank you for all your reviews, follows, and favorites. I truly hope everyone is enjoying this story as much as I am. If anyone has any suggestions, lay them on me! - Much love!

*.*.*.*

"She's going to be okay."

Shikamaru glanced at his blonde teammate, she had that knowing look on her face and he could barely contain the confusion on his face before a blush crept up his neck. "No idea what you're talking about.." He muttered, sitting against the tree as he watched their camp fire dance in the darkness of night.

"You don't need to hide it. I worry about her too..." Ino said softly, a serious undertone sifting through. Shikamaru glanced over at the Yamanaka, he could see the worry written all over her face as well. "She was alone for so long and not once did she complain. Not once did she say anything to anyone. She trained herself to the bone day in and day out. She works herself to death at the hospital and takes on as many missions as she is allowed with her other responsibilities. Her parents.."

There was a fleeting look over the blonde's face, "She broke when she told me about her parents.. then she kept on going and told me how her team never sees her. She's just always there for them and they never seem to notice. She waited two years for them and bettered herself and.. they didn't even notice. Hell, that stick in a mud Neji acknowledges Sakura more than her own team does. You acknowledge her more... that's not okay.."

Ino turned her gaze to the Nara, "Thank you for taking care of her when I or Neji can't. Thank you for being her friend."

Shikamaru was silent the whole time and couldn't help but nod in agreement with everything she had said. "She looked so.." broken. Shikamaru couldn't shake the image of Sakura training in the rain, her hands blooded, her body trembling and her eyes bloodshot from crying when the men of her 'team' came back and acted as if nothing happened. Made her feel as though she was transparent. He had been heading home after a mission and stumbled upon her. Their friendship began as he helped nurse her back to health from a rather nasty cold and case of pneumonia - Ino had inducted him as her second hand when Sakura got home from the hospital and was on strict bed rest.

Shikamaru didn't know much about Sakura and Neji's relationship, but they had become good friends at some point and the three of them became teammates - they had become just as close as he, Ino and Choji had... except...

Shikamaru felt his face heat up a bit and he found himself unable to keep eye contact with the blonde. "When you're ready, I hope you say something." Ino said softly. "Go to bed, I'll take first watch." There was no room left for argument as Yamanaka jumped into a tree.

Flashes of pink hair steadied itself in his mind's eye, "troublesome.." He whispered as a small smile came onto his lips.

*.*.*.*

"Sakura, I know you can do better than that! Again!" Tsunade growled. She may have been Hokage but she didn't neglect one of her only disciples.. not like a certain Hatake. Shizune stood on the sidelines watching, she was going back and forth between the training fields and hospital during the times Tsunade found herself in the fields with Sakura. "Again! Less chakra!" Yelled Tsunade.

The training had gone on for a few good hours and when they were finally done, Sakura dropped on to her back from exhaustion. "Good job, Sakura." Smiled Tsunade as she gave an affectionate look. "I'm so proud of you." She said softly. Sakura smiled back happily, albeit tired.

"Thank you Shishou." Sakura answered. It was on the tip of her tongue. She needed to tell Tsunade about what had been happening to her... but how? How do you tell another person that there is a voice inside your head and it's been making you go crazy? Sakura didn't know and some part of her wasn't ready.

Neji kept imploring her to seek help, but did she want help? What if she finally had something that gave her the power she needed to protect her loved ones? What if she could learn to control it and fight beside her team instead of watching their backs.

'Why do you want to fight beside them anyway? Why do you care? All this time of them being back and they haven't once made you feel as though you were part of the team. Not once did they make you feel as though you are their equal. All they do is treat you like a porcelain doll. The only people who treat you like an actual teammate are Ino-pig, Nara and the Hyuuga. Don't keep pretending team seven has ever been or ever will be your team.'

Sakura didn't realize she had been scowling until Tsunade interrupted, "I heard about the scuffle between yourself and your team. Anything you want to talk about?"

Sakura looked at the older woman, apparently everyone heard about that. "I didn't think there was really anything to talk about it.. I finally told them exactly what I thought."

"But did you?"

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked, her eyes closed as she did not want to see the look on the elder woman's face - the woman who was her second mother, her best friend, her shishou. The only person to take her seriously and see in her everything it would take to be great. She was the second coming of a sannin and the only one who noticed it was Tsunade.

"Don't play dumb. You know exactly what I mean. The fact that you have years of repressed anger and sadness and thousands of other emotions, I'm sure. The feeling of betrayal you've had for a long time now. Did you tell them any of it? Did you tell them why?"

"Would it really fix anything? They know what they did and obviously they don't care and if they don't know what they did then I refuse to make it my job to tell them. If they can't look me in the eyes and realize the shit they left behind, that's their issue. I refuse to keep cleaning up the messes they clumsily keep making."

The older woman was shocked by the venom in the younger woman's words. She knew the anger and all the feeling Sakura hid, but she had never heard Sakura sound such a way towards her beloved team. "Do you want me to remove you from the team?"

"And where would I go? Neji has Ten-Ten and Lee. Shikamaru has Ino and Choji. We are only a temporary team.. ANBU pre-trial.. as you put it." Sakura pointed out. Tsunade knew she was right but still, the guilt in watching her young apprentice struggle killed her inside. Sakura was the closest thing to a daughter she had and she hated the idea of her being disrespected and looked over.

"I'll just work more at the hospital and you can send me on missions that only really call for my expertise with my team.. and I'll keep on as I have been with Nara and Hyuuga and leave it at that." Sakura offered. Tsunade hated the idea of Sakura hiding behind hospital walls, but she was a very big help and she made the hospital run so smoothly. Sighing, some sake would be very much appreciated tonight.

"If it will make things better for you, I will do that. My only requirement is that you tell them.. tell them what they've done. Not for them, but for you. You deserve to have them know. You deserve to tell them. No one should have to hold that with them all their life, especially you Sakura." With that, Tsunade left the fields in a flurry of leaves.

Sakura remained where she was, her back on the ground and her eyes staring into the sky. Slowly day became night and the Pinkett hadn't bothered to move, her mind was a million miles away. "Nara is really starting to rub off on you." Came a distinct male voice.

"There could be worse things." Sakura said without looking at the man beside her. To her surprise, the male lay beside her.

"Are you okay?" His question was soft, almost lost in the oncoming breeze.

"I just... she wants me to tell them why I'm so angry. I don't understand why. Everyone else sees the damage and yet they can't. I don't get it. Especially Naruto.. how can he not.." she choked on her tears that had yet to come.

Neji didn't look at her, he knew she wouldn't want him to see her like this, not after seeing it so many times for so many reasons. "Some times people like to see what they want. They want to think the world is the same as they left it. When they left, you were someone to protect - maybe Naruto used you as a reason to become stronger. I don't know, I can't and I won't answer for them. All I can say is that until you say something, this anger inside you won't go away. I know all about keeping that sort of hate inside, it doesn't fix anything. You're the only one poisoned by it."

"Thank you, Neji.." Sakura whispered, "I didn't know you could talk that much."

She didn't see it, but Neji had a worried look on his face despite the smirk on his lips. "Just tell them, Sakura.. you won't know until you do."

*.*.*.*

"Dobe, she doesn't want to see us. She would have talked to us when we were at her apartment." Sasuke sighed, he was tired and annoyed with Naruto's constant probing.

"Teme, we let her down..." This caught Sasuke's attention, "We let her down.. we are her team and we let her down. We left her alone.. when was the last time we even said thank you to her for helping us... for everything she does?" Naruto wasn't facing him, but Sasuke knew there was a look on his face - the one reserved for when he was beating himself up over something.

"Naruto -"

"No!" Naruto cut off the Uchiha, "Nothing we can say or think or do can even come close to excusing what we have done.. or what we don't do. It's our faults she's so hurt and upset. Have you even seen her smiles, Sasuke? When was the last time she smiled with her eyes? She always so tired and just smiles and acts happy for us, for our benefit.

"I know everyone thinks I'm dumb or that I don't notice anything.. and they're right, I haven't noticed anything about Sakura in such a long time. She was right, Sasuke, we don't know a damned thing about her."

"I know that!" Sasuke finally exploded, "Of course I know that! She has food in her house for us, she has clothing for us, she keeps our favorite snacks, drinks, soaps.. everything at her house just because she knows us so well and wants us to be happy! I know this!

"I also know I know nothing about her! I have no idea what she likes to eat or drink, what she prefers to do on her days off. I don't even know what the fuck her job at the hospital entails. Is she dating anyone, does she still love me? Does she even like me? You, Kakashi? I know nothing about her just as much as you and Kakashi don't. But what can we do, Naruto? What the fuck can we do when she is finally treating us exactly the way we deserve to be treated? What do we do?"

Naruto was shocked that Sasuke felt this way - that he felt anything at all about the situation. "How long Sasuke?"

"What?" Sasuke growled.

"You know what! Don't act stupid, how long?!"

"When we got back." Came Sasuke's skeptical answer. "I knew when we got back and she hadn't met us at the gates. I knew then." The answer was a double edged one, answering the question both asked and the one that was only heard by the Uchiha.

Naruto couldn't help the feeling deep in his gut, "How did we fuck up so bad?" He whispered.

"I don't know." Came Uchiha's honest answer.

*.*.*.*.*

"Couldn't sleep, Uchiha?" Came Sakura's tired voice.

The Uchiha heir was equally surprised as he was impressed that the medic was able to feel him there.

"I came to talk." He said after a long stretch of silence, sitting beside her.

"About...?" Sakura didn't bother to look over at him.

"About whatever it is that is going on with you. I'm sure I'm not the only one that feels it. Sasuke has been acting odd as well as Kakashi. Hyuuga-San and Nara-san have been tight lipped lately about a few things. Tell me, how many times have we gone a mission and this was happening to you?"

Sakura's eyes narrowed, "I do not wish to talk about this, Uchiha-San. Please leave me be."

"If you become a threat, I will not hesitate to do what it takes to assure you become neutralized."

Sakura cocked an eyebrow and smirked, "If that was a threat..." she disappeared and appeared a few feet away, "Maybe you should assure that I am afraid of you enough for it to work. Goodnight, Uchiha-San." Sakura slowly walked away, not bothering to look back at the lone Uchiha, whom, as she walked away, had a smirk on his face.

Interesting.

*.*.*.*

"Welcome back." Sakura smiled warmly as the Nara plopped onto the medic's couch. "How was the mission?" Sakura asked.

"It was with Ino. Troublesome."

Sakura mused at this and began making tea, "Hungry?" She asked.

"Yes, please." He answered.

As Sakura busied herself in the kitchen, Nara couldn't help but watch her intently. Her pink hair was pulled into a messy bun and her bangs fell slightly into her eyes. She wore a pair of black short shorts and a red tank top that clung to her curves. She had just gotten off her shift at the hospital when she found the Nara at her door.

He couldn't help but see her - every time he did it was like the first time. He wouldn't allow himself to acknowledge the tightness in his chest and the knot in his stomach. He wouldn't allow himself to say a word - not when she was still dealing with so much on her plate already. Flashes of that night he saw her in the training fields flashed through his mind and it made the tightness in his chest become tighter.

As he watched her get better when she was in his and Ino's care, he made a promise to himself that she would never be allowed to feel less than his equal. He would never allow her to feel how her so called teammates did.

"Have you seen Ino or Neji yet?" Sakura asked as she poured them tea.

"No, I gave my report to the Hokage and.."

"Came right here?" Sakura smiled, "Missed you too.."

A blush crept up his neck once more as he looked away, "Troublesome." After a few beats of silence, Nara couldn't stop himself from asking, "How has everything been..."

Of course, she heard his unasked question. "Fine, so far. Neji asked me to seek help.. to talk to the guys about everything and Uchiha Itachi gave a mild threat. Apparently he thinks he knows what's going on, thinks I might become a danger and will "neutralize" me if needed."

This made the Nara stiffen, damn those nosey, holier-than-thou Uchiha. His silence allowed her to continue, "I haven't decided on what to do about the guys.. I don't know if I'm ready just yet. As far as getting help.." Sakura sighed deeply, "I don't think I'm going to. Not yet." For some reason, this didn't shock Shikamaru.

"You think you can learn to control it." He stated, they had become too close to keep thoughts from each other. The trio had become so close that they basically could hear each other's thoughts and could sense what wasn't said.

"You don't think it's a terrible idea?" Sakura asked a bit surprised.

"Sakura.." Nara moved to where Sakura stood, "I support whatever decision you make as long as you don't hurt yourself. I will do what I can with all my power to support your decision. I am your friend and teammate, I won't allow you to do something because you think someone else thinks you should - even if that person is myself or Neji."

"Thank you, Shika." Sakura smiled. She drew him into a hug and kissed his cheek. At that moment, Shikamaru hadn't any idea what possessed him, but Shikamaru kissed her cheek. Then her forehead. Then her lips.

Then again.

And again.

And Sakura kissed him back.

Before either of them had a chance to say anything about it, a knock at the door took away their attention. Sakura dipped her head with an apology and made her way to the door. "ANBU-san, what can I do for you?" Sakura asked.

"There's been an incident, you are needed at the hospital right away. Hatake Kakashi is in need of immediate care." With that, the ANBU disappeared, Sakura throwing a look at Shikamaru before disappearing in a whirlwind of blossoms.

*.*.*.*

"They will know your name.
They will bow down to you.
Little blossom..
You are a goddess.
And they are but your loyal followers.
They just don't know it yet."