Then

"Sasuke-kun, where are we actually going?"

Kakashi had given her a brief summary of the information Sasuke provided. On the second half of their first day together, Sakura can only say that she knows the following details of the trip she is taking with Sasuke: they are going to the north of the Land of Fire because of a strange chakra found in there. Sasuke chose to take her because he trusts her, meaning that this journey is not something that he would take alone. Which, consequently, means that there could be something dangerous lurking in the border with Sound.

Meaning that Sasuke thinks that she can handle whatever dangers they may face. Sakura stopped looking for her teammate's acknowledgement a very long time ago, and managed to keep her emotions in check whenever she felt that Sasuke did not fully understand her potential as a kunoichi. Nonetheless, there is a bragging sense of accomplishment when she knows that he has finally accepted her as an equal.

And with that final note, her confusing thoughts from earlier today vanish from her mind.

However, the young Uchiha still has not answered her question.

"Sasuke-kun?"

He doesn't turn around, continuing to walk down the dirt road with his lips set into a straight line. He knows that if he opens his mouth blood may spill out and Sakura will find out about it. He lets a couple of seconds pass, hoping that Sakura does not appear in front of him, and swallows the metallic liquid that had gathered in his mouth before he responds.

"We are heading north," he informs her, fortunate that she isn't too close to smell the bloody scent coming from him.

Sakura begins to walk towards him with a frown on her soft features. "Where north?"

"Sora-ku," he begins to walk again, turning his face away from her direction. "My clan stored munitions there. We will pick up some supplies and then continue."

They continue their journey in silence, both too occupied with their own thoughts to attempt engaging in conversation.

Sakura does not bother asking more questions than he is willing to answer. In spite of their rocky past, she still trusts Sasuke with all of her being. If they are heading somewhere dangerous, then she'd much rather help him than imagine him facing a strong opponent without backup.

If it were up to her, she would go to the end of the world for Sasuke.

Now

Sasuke finally feels the limits of his body in its ill state.

Before he makes another move, he has to think, think, think.

Indra has Sakura, and his last words are a mystery to him. Was his ancestor planning for this to happen? For Sakura to accompany him and then take her from under his nose!? It doesn't make sense.

After all that's happened, all that they have gone through. He. Cannot. Lose. Her.

He feels blood rushing up towards his mouth, but holds it back as he begins to move his legs in the opposite direction from where Sakura and Indra disappeared to.

If he wants to get Sakura back, he needs to have something before making his next move. He's always been one to give all or nothing, and he's recently figured out that when it comes to his female teammate, he is willing to give much more than all.

But in order to do that, Sasuke will need help. He doesn't have much time in his hand, but his physical limits would only cost him more damage in the long run.

He has to go back to Konoha, has to speak with her, and then begin his journey to finding where Indra has taken the one person who makes sense in his tormented mind.

Then

Sakura notices how kind he is to strangers.

She watches as he picks up a ball from the ground and throws it back to a group of small children playing in the outskirts of the town they are passing by. The three kids wave back at him and yell out their thanks to the strange cloaked wanderer. A small part of her heart warms up when she notices the slight upwards curve of Sasuke's lips as he nods back.

In the past two years of solitary traveling, she wonders how many people Sasuke has met and how his atonement has developed, or if he has changed anyone's life for the better. He would often inform her and Naruto of his whereabouts and what he is up to, but never to the extent of what he is feeling and how he is coping. After all, going through all of the tragedies and turning back from twisted ideologies has definitely taken a toll on Sasuke's physical and mental health.

Sakura can see it from the eye of a medical ninja. She attempts to subject him to an analysis using what she has learned about the mind from Ino and the body from Tsunade. He must have experienced episodes of panic attacks, of flashbacks, of insomnia, and a number of other after effects of having a traumatic past.

Once again, she finds herself thinking about her last confession two years ago, where she clearly stated that if she could, she would have taken all of his pain onto herself. Sakura is beginning to see it like that again, although she knows how Sasuke must endure through his own hardships because he would not deal with them in any other way. She just has to stand strongly by his side, and swear that she will never cause him the same sort of pain that his previous loved ones have.

"Do you like smiling?" she asks out of the blue when they are walking in the centre of the small town.

He looks at her with questioning eyes. "I don't understand."

"I think you've learned how to smile at the small things in life."

Sakura laces her fingers behind her back with her face facing front. A small smile is dancing on her face as well. Yes, her old teammate has changed and has learned to accept gratitude. She just hopes that he sees the good in himself as she has all her life.

"There is a lot that this world has to offer," he simply comments.

Dawn is falling on the sky, turning blue into shades of orange and purple. The townspeople walk in downtown without hurry and without worry for the two shinobi. After the end of the war, and the almost-end of the world, the sight of shinobi from Konoha and other villages unofficially traveling around has become normal for civilians. Perhaps that is why Kakashi could easily dismiss Sakura in spite of her importance to the village; in peaceful times like this, the vast amount of ninjas in the continent was a little unnecessary.

Sakura is fine with it. It's been a while since she had taken time off from her duties in Konoha. Travelling with Sasuke to an unknown destination, where danger could be lurking, isn't her ideal version of a vacation. But she looks to her side and sees that Sasuke-kun is walking beside her, that he is physically present in her surroundings, that he wants her company, and she gradually changes her mind.

This could probably be her best opportunity to relax.

"There is an onsen up ahead. We should stop there for the night and head to Sora-ku tomorrow morning," Sakura suggests.

The hot spring house is one of the smallest ones she has seen in the Land of Fire. It is still beautiful on the inside, reminding Sakura of the several ones she has visited with her parents on her childhood vacations. Their room is small and square, with three walls and one sliding door that leads to the communal hot springs.

Sakura leaves the door open and sits on the edge, taking in the warmth radiating from the steamy water. She has changed into the yukata provided with their room and wraps her arms around her knees, and thinks back to the last time she felt so at ease being away from Konoha. It's only been one day, but a part of her mind says that it will be much longer until she is bound to return to the village.

Sasuke sits beside her, and she is reminded as to why she wishes that this journey lasted for several weeks. Her mind keeps dancing back and forth between the relief of being with the one person she's been yearning for and the worries that come with her absence in Konoha.

They remain in silence, Sakura knowing that it takes a while for Sasuke to open up to her after so many years of separation. She knows that they can return to the same level of interaction they had back when they were genin; they already had after the end of the war and before he left.

"Do you think that you would be the same in you had stayed in Konoha?" she asks.

"In what way?"

Sakura thinks of how to explain herself. "In a way that you can accept people doing you favours."

Sasuke closes his eyes for a moment, trying to find the right words to explain the same thoughts that run through his mind every day in his absence from his birthplace. Some would say that he owes a lot to Konoha for letting him live freely, for letting him travel the world with the promise of returning to a position that his brother always wanted him to take. That he should feel lucky of how far his comrades have gone to save him from darkness, that the absence of his left arm could be easily replaced with an artificial one that is exclusively reserved for his own use.

Sasuke hasn't formed a seal in two years, greatly diminishing his chances in a battle though the last thing he would want is to face an opponent. And that is something that he would face everyday if he were to live in Konoha; Team 7 and the officials may be considered forgiving, but the larger population is only aware of his lethal deeds from the past.

It would have eaten him alive.

"No," he finally confesses, and can feel Sakura's form sulking beside him. "I think that I wouldn't have found redemption in Konoha. I would have been happy with you and Naruto, but never with myself." He chooses his next words carefully. "My resentment... it would have come back. I would have very well tried to destroy Konoha because I would have been surrounded by reminders of my past."

It is Sakura's turn to choose silence. This is the answer she had been waiting to hear for the past two years, and it is what she expects but finds herself disappointed. Her seventeen year old self would have wanted to hear Sasuke say that staying in the village was a better option for it would mean that all of her loved ones were within the same walls. However, knowing that it would not have been healthy for someone as scarred as Sasuke to remain confined to one place also makes sense.

She bites her lower lip, tilting her head until it rests on the sliding door. "I think I understand now," she says softly. "You're too restless to stay in one place, especially Konoha."

"..."

"Are you... are you happy now, Sasuke-kun?"

He looks down to his lap, thinking of how happiness once felt like.

"I think it's too difficult to say that I'm happy. I need more answers before I make up my mind and go back for good."

She wants to say that she could bring happiness to his life, but knows that after many years it is just an empty promise. With all that Sasuke has gone through, he must find happiness on his own. She would be waiting at the end of the journey anyway. That is what her mind has made up from her time waiting. She would wait for him forever, knowing that he would come back to her, but she's learned that this type of healing cannot be done with her own hands.

Yes, Sakura has also grown up during his absence. She goes back to wonder if he's noticed that the changes go beyond her intelligence and maturity.

"You still protected the village."

She can hear the low chuckle forming in his throat.

"That's what he would have wanted," Sasuke says and they fall back into silence.

"Do you think about it everyday? About him?"

Sasuke informed her of the truth behind the Uchiha massacre two years ago, when she accompanied him to pay respects to his family in a new tombstone.

"There was a time when I thought that it was all in the past, that I could look into the future without having to remind myself of the things that have happened. But then I think of how much my brother has affected me and how happy he would be with my resolve."

Itachi's significance in his life is not something he's openly shared with Sakura. After the end of the war, he told her about his family's past as part of his apology; he wanted to make up for all those missed opportunities that he could have had in being a friend to her. Sure, it was easier to confide with Naruto, but Sakura was his teammate too and it was about time that he began to pay attention to her.

She shifts her body, pointing her knees towards him and giving him all of her attention. Sakura cannot remember the last time that Sasuke has said so much to her. Though he is very brief in his letters, he has shown at times how much goes on in his mind and it makes her realize how lost he's been for the majority of his life. His only guide is a dead brother who was forced to become a criminal. It has put things into perspective for her, such as why he tends to push people away.

He's only now learning how to accept help from her.

It may seem bold to Sakura's mind, but she feels the urge of reaching out her hand and touching his arm. She lands it gently on what is left of his limb, wondering how he's survived all these years without the need of his left hand. But then again, this is Uchiha Sasuke. He is one of the most resilient shinobi Sakura has ever known. And perhaps this is his way of punishing himself for all his past mistakes. Nonetheless, it doesn't make him any less a ninja.

"Sasuke-kun, I..." at fist she does not know how to convey what her mind goes through every time she thinks of how much he's suffered. "I'm proud of you," she finishes softly.

Sakura does not look at his face, choosing to focus on the bamboo floor to hide the blush in her cheeks, but hopes that there is a ghost of a smile on his face. He's never been one to receive her signs of affection, but after years of holding in all the feelings she's harboured from him in his absence, Sakura feels that she deserves to at least show them in the smallest ways.

"I still can't believe he married," he comments after a silent pause.

Sakura's eyebrows raise in surprise. "I couldn't believe it at first either. Naruto's smiling a lot more now, especially when he cleans the house."

"That's weird."

"It really is."

They continue talking about the mundane aspects of their teammate's life and then move on to other topics. Sakura tells him about Ino's efforts to get Sai's attention; of how the villages are in such good terms that delegates from Kumo and Suna have been sent to form diplomatic ties with Konoha; of how Kakashi is still late for work at least once a week and she has to personally wake him up by threatening to punch a hole in all of his home's walls.

Sasuke shares some of his experiences too, much to her surprise. He talks about the places he's been and he's written about, like Uzushio's ruins, the Great Naruto Bridge, or Ame, where his brother lived for many years. He finds how easy it is to describe those things to Sakura and tries to find a reason as to why he hasn't done it before. She is a good listener, attentive and expressive to all of the things he has to say. How much more has he overlooked in the past decade?

He watches her sleep with her head leaned on the egde of the sliding door, her lips slightly parted and a serene expression in her soft features. Sasuke wants to reach out his right hand, but it diverts its course to his chest when he feels a sharp pain.

It's happening again.

Blood travels up from his throat to his mouth, and the familiar taste is back in his palate before he can control his lungs. His chest rises up and down in jagged motions, and he has to get up from the floor before Sakura wakes up and notices his state.

With unheard footsteps, Sasuke runs toward the closest hot spring and separates his lips, expelling the red fluid from his body. He covers his mouth with his hand and looks at his reflection in the steaming water.

Blood runs down his chin and jaw, his skin is pale as white, his hair is long and disheveled. He looks just like Itachi did before he collapsed and died.

Sasuke's eyes narrow, thinking that these episodes may begin to happen more often. He's waited too long, and needs to find the cure. Heading north is the only option he has left. He washes his mouth with the same warm water, rinsing his teeth and spitting out more red liquid until he is clean. His heartbeat had picked up during this last episode, but, unlike other times, he is able to breathe normally.

He looks back to the slumbering figure of his teammate. Sakura hasn't moved an inch since he left her side. Sasuke sits back down beside her, tricking his mind that the last minute never happened and that her presence should make him feel safe. It's all just imagination, a part of him says. His body is decaying and only one person knows the answer to this.

It still does not limit him from wrapping his arm around Sakura's waist and softly bringing her sleeping head from the wall towards his shoulder. He lets it rest there for the rest of the night, thinking that this form of selfish comfort is the only one he should be allowed to get. It clears his mind from his lung, focusing on the pink hairs that casually tickle the side of his face and contrast with his black ones.

Sasuke wonders if he can keep it a secret from her for much longer. Sakura is a very intelligent shinobi, a jōnin, and a person he truly trusts. She is entitled to know why he's taken her away from her beloved Konoha for an -unofficially- indefinite amount of time. More importantly, she is one of the best medical ninjas and would go to the end of the world to heal him.

He should be learning how to accept help, shouldn't he?

Now

Sakura stares at the place where Indra stood in not more than a second ago. The smoke that follows the flames is almost invisible, and she is snapped out of her state with the natural instinct to answer all the questions.

Before she begins to form the right theory in her mind, she needs to know about her situation. Sakura's eyes travel around the obscure, hollow, infinite room she is in. She is a jōnin for a reason after all, and will definitely not be waiting until someone comes and saves her. She is no damsel in distress; she is a kunoichi from Konohagakure and she begins to formulate a plan in her mind.

However, first and foremost, she has to learn where Indra has taken her.

Woaaaaa you people are amazing!

I'm sorry this chapter didn't feature much of Indra. I know a lot of you are excited to see what happens with him and so am I!

I'd like to clarify a few things, though. While this is a love triangle (and my first one to write), it will take a different course as the story progresses. SasuSakura is my number one OTP and everything and I'm so happy they're canon, but that's a story for another time. The IndraSaku aspect will be further developed as Sakura spends more time with him and finds out a couple things. Now, I am not saying that that she will have to choose between the two, but that all of the events happening now and in future chapters will culminate into one thing that will hopefully make sense in the end!

Keep up the positive vibes my people! It's almost 2015, SasuSaku is canon and it inspires me to write, Digimon is coming back next Spring, there will be more Naruto-related stuff coming soon too! It's a good time to be alive.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Next chapter for this story and Delivery will come in either January or February.

MSM