Chapter 2

"It seems that you and your old team have to fight every time you meet," stated a muffled voice coming from behind the mask.

As his interlocutor answered with only a slightly arched eyebrow, the masked ninja added: 'Zetsu was watching you from a distance. He said you took good care of your sensei.' - he smiled sarcastically.

'Madara, why did you come?'

' As always, you are full of patience Sasuke.'- he got up from the kitchen surface on which he had been leaning and moved closer to Sasuke.

'Now that you've killed Danzo, what's your plan regarding Konoha?'- he asked him seriously, staring at him with a single eye peeking through his orange mask.

A few tense moments passed before Sasuke snapped at him –

'The goal is the same, nothing has changed.'

' Of course, but I'm curious what steps you plan to take now-'

'I don't have to explain anything to you , Madara. Now leave my house, yesterday was a long day and I want to rest.'- the masked ninja was obviously dissatisfied with the answer, but he decided not to pressure Sasuke and moved a few steps back, preparing to go on his way.

'Did Zetsu remove the corpse?'- was the question that reached ninja's ears, moments before he was about to teleport out of Sasuke's kitchen.

'Corpse…? Are you talking about Hatake Kakashi? Nine-Tails arrived moments after you left and picked him up. I don't know if he's still alive.'

'Hn.' - he seemed to think for a moment before answering, then the younger Uchiha turned his back on him and left the room.

Sakura's palms separated from the girl's skin, while the green glow coming out of them faded.

'Despite the fact that you have numerous contusions and several broken ribs, I'm most concerned about the prolapse of your right lung, as well as the excess cerebrospinal fluid. Lucky for you, it's nothing that a middling medical ninja couldn't solve.' - she finished her presentation.

'Thank you... I guess.' - Karin said weakly, still lying on the same spot.

Her whole body ached and her vision was blurry, partly as a result of the brain swelling that Sakura had just mentioned, and partly because her glasses were broken. Although Sasuke was definitely ready to kill her with his Chidori, a part of her hoped that Sasuke would seek medical help during the previous night, knowing it was the most critical 12 hours for saving her life. Since it didn't happen, she realized she could no longer pretend that this was the same Sasuke she had met during the founding of Taka.

Since the beginning he was a cold and reserved person. However, after he murdered Itachi, his chakra became much darker and yesterday's events only emphasized the change in his personality.

' I don't have enough chakra left to heal you, but I suppose Sasuke can find a medic in this village who'll take a look at you.'

'You two have already known each other.' - that wasn't a question.

Although she was quite disoriented yesterday, Karin remembers Sakura mentioning that she felt guilty for not leaving Konoha with him.

'Yes, we were on the same team…. In the past life.' - or at least, that's how it seemed to Sakura from the current perspective.

"Well, Sasuke-kun has already replaced you a long time ago, so I don't know why you humiliated yourself by looking for him." - Karin commented pointedly.

She couldn't help but wonder why Sasuke didn't kill this girl on the spot yesterday, when it was painfully obvious that she appeared with the intention of betraying him in the first place.

'That's none of your business - Sakura snapped at her sharply, feeling a blow to her ego - if I were you, I'd think about whether I'm in a position to be insolent.'

Karin clenched her teeth due to a burst of anger at her remark, but remembering that her life currently depended on what Sakura would tell their team leader, she decided to refrain from commenting this time.

Moments later, Sakura felt familiar chakra approaching the room they were in. With the sound of creaking, the door swung open and Sasuke asked standing on the doorway:

'So, what's the diagnosis?'

Adjusting her skirt and carefully getting up from the floor, Sakura responded: 'Karin has numerous injuries, some of which require urgent attention. However, if she receives adequate medical care in time, I believe she will fully recover.'

'Hn. Suigetsu will take you to Dr. Kimura – he turned his gaze from Karin to Sakura and added – for the time being, I'll stay here to make sure you don't get any strange ideas.'

'Excuse me? I've just told you that Karin's gonna be completely healed, you don't need me anymore Sasuke!'- she shouted furiously.

"Most of all... After everything you did yesterday, I'd never look for you again." – Sakura said through gritted teeth.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at her comment and took slow steps to approach her. Sakura felt an instinctive need to back away from him, but despite her discomfort she continued to stand in the same spot. When he stopped only a few inches from her, Sasuke commented darkly:

'I don't care what you would or wouldn't do. Better regain your strength as soon as possible, because I expect you to start working on my eyes promptly.'

'Do you really think that I'll agree to help a man who harmed my precious people? Maybe you haven't noticed, but I'm no longer the old Sakura who'll chase after you no matter what!'- she looked at him determinedly, not taking her eyes off his face.

She realized too late that it was a mistake. Sasuke activated his Sharingan and the next thing Sakura knew, she was standing in some kind of an underground room. In the middle of the space, to her astonishment, lay Kakashi - sensei. The hole in his shoulder, created by Chidori, was still open. However, it seemed that it was starting to heal a bit.

Still, the overall appearance of Kakashi's condition didn't exude hope.

When Sakura looked around the room, she noticed another – man? standing not far away from her sensei. The man was watching Kakashi with a morbid look in his eyes – he was wearing an Akatsuki robe, half of his face was white and the other half was green, with some kind of tentacles springing up from the green side of his face. On the long table located next to him, there was a huge number of test tubes, needles and injections of different sizes lined up.

Just as she started to run to her teacher, the room dispersed before her eyes and she found herself back in the bedroom of Sasuke's house.

She was breathing rapidly, feeling like she couldn't breathe in enough air. Her whole skin tingled with the sensation that his genjutsu caused to her and her knees buckled so hard that she had to brace herself against the wall of the room. She watched Sasuke breathlessly, becoming aware of the full extent of the power his kekkei-genkai possessed.

' So, Sakura? Was this enough for you to decide to help me? Or maybe I should order Zetsu to finish off your beloved sensei? - he grinned evilly.

'You….. You've changed beyond recognition, Sasuke. I've never thought you could stoop this low... You talk about Kakashi-sensei like he wasn't your teacher once, too.'

Sasuke watched her with a stern look, when a fish-like young man appeared at the door of the room, carrying a large sword on his back.

'Sasuke, I came to see if I should take Karin to the medic... Am I interrupting something?' - he asked, shifting his gaze from Sasuke to Sakura, who was still breathing rapidly.

'Nothing important, Suigetsu. Yes, take her to Dr. Kimura.'

'By the way, this is Sakura. As of today, she is a member of our team. I expect the three of you to get along properly.' - with that being added, Sasuke turned around and disappeared into the corridor.

Suigetsu parted his lips in a half-smirk which revealed his teeth and measured Sakura from head to toe.

She had a nice, oval face framed by shoulder-length pink hair. She was slim, with small round breasts and a narrow waist. Her big green eyes stood out the most on her, and the only thing that slightly spoiled the harmony of her face was her big forehead. Suigetsu liked the sight he saw.

'Hi, pretty!'

"Being such a beautiful girl, there is no reason for us not to get along well."- he added pawky.

Sakura just wrinkled her nose at his statement, feeling a slight disgust towards this strange looking creature.

'Although I would like to continue our chat, right now I have to take this nuisance to the doctor.' - he added glancing at Karin, visibly annoyed about the task that Sasuke assigned him.

"You better pick me up from this floor right now, I'm completely stiff!" - Karin shouted nervously, lying on the floor.

"It's such a shame Juugo went berserk and left us, I'd prefer him to stay in our team instead of you." - she grumbled.

'Well, it looks like we'll have to put up with each other - unfortunately for both of us.' - they continued to argue as Suigetsu slung her over his shoulder and headed for the exit of the room.

When he closed the door, Sakura felt relieved that she was alone again. She returned to her bed and sat on its edge, anxiously thinking about what to do.

Until recently, she had hoped that Naruto had managed to reach Kakashi in time and take him back to Konoha, where she was sure that Shizune would help him recover as quickly as possible. However, the sight she saw in Sasuke's genjutsu made her realize that not only what she wished for didn't happen, but she was now extremely worried about that plant/man who was in the same room with Kakashi. He had a malevolent look on its face, and many instruments lying on that long table led Sakura to think that the creature was planning to perform some sort of experiments on her teacher.

The thought sent a physical tug at Sakura's stomach.

There was no way she could let something so awful happen to Kakashi, especially not after he had selflessly sacrificed himself for her. On the other hand, the cost of saving him was to help Sasuke regain the sharpness of his vision.

Thinking feverishly about how to solve the given situation, she lost track of time. At some point, she noticed through the window of the room that sun had risen high in the sky and assumed it was already noon.

Precisely at that moment, her bowels gurgled loudly and she realized the last time she ate was two whole days ago.

Cautiously leaving the room, Sakura examined her surroundings, having the opportunity to look at the house she was in for the first time. To the left of her bedroom was another room with the same wooden door, next to which was the entrance to the narrow corridor. Across her bedroom was a room with it's door slightly ajar and she could tell that it was a bathroom. Finally, not far from her door, there was a long wooden staircase that led upstairs.

Sakura assumed that the kitchen must be located on the ground floor, so she started to walk down the hall at the end of which was indeed the entrance to the spacious kitchen.

Like everything else in the house, the kitchen was rather old-fashioned, but quite decently equipped. She went to the refrigerator and was pleasantly surprised when she saw that it was filled with all kinds of food.

She decided to make herself scrambled eggs, as well as a tomato and cucumber salad.

A little protein should restore my strength.

A few minutes after she started preparing her lunch, she felt Sasuke's chakra approaching the entrance to the kitchen and felt chills running down her spine.

He walked past her and settled in front of the table which occupied the center of the kitchen.

'Add 3 more eggs to the pan.' - he told her nonchalantly sitting on his chair, barely even looking at her.

'Here I am running, Sasuke-kun!'- her discomfort was swiftly replaced by anger and sarcasm found its way to her lips.

'I don't like the tone of your voice, Sakura.'- this time Sasuke addressed her by turning his body towards her.

'And I don't like anything you've been doing for the last three years! Most of all, the fact that you threatened our teacher's life and kidnapped me.' - she continued with indignation in her voice, turning around to him as well.

'You have all the freedom to leave my house at this moment. However, I think I was very clear about what the consequences are going to be.' - he told her coldly.

Sakura, observing his pale eyes, got an idea suddenly.

She'll pretend that she agreed to heal Sasuke's eyes, but she'll do it so slowly and without enough chakra to fix his vision in the long run. By the time Sasuke realizes that nothing was really changing, she hoped that Naruto and the rest of Konoha 11 would find a way to locate her and Kakashi.

It carried a potentially high risk for her, but there was nothing else she could do to avoid betraying her principles on the one hand, and endangering Kakashi's life on the other.

'So? What is your decision?'- Sasuke looked at her intently, demanding an answer.

Sakura looked up at him decisively – 'Okay. I'll agree to heal your eyes, but I want you to get that creepy plant guy away from Kakashi.'

Sasuke smirked, feeling the satisfaction of having achieved what he wanted.

'Fine, I'll send Suigetsu tomorrow to transfer him to Dr. Kimura - however, you have no right to visit him.'- Sasuke concluded sharply, not allowing the possibility of her finding out about his deception.

Sakura bit her bottom lip, feeling frustrated that she couldn't make sure about Kakashi's condition for herself. However, in her current position, she wasn't really abble to demand anything more from Sasuke, so she resigned herself to his statement.

'You should buy yourself some new clothes.'- Sasuke suddenly informed her, looking at the dust and tears on her ninja vest.

He got up from the chair and headed for the kitchen door adding: 'When you finish your lunch, wait for me in front of your room. We'll go to the downtown.'

A/N: As always, your comments and suggestions are welcome. Until the next reading!