A/N: So this is what's happening on Sakura's side back in Konoha while Naruto finds Tsunade, learns the Rasengan, kicks Kabuto's ass, and the Sanin face off, plus whatever the anime included for their journey back to Konoha.

"Sakura's thoughts..."

"Inner Sakura..."

Memory...

Standard disclaimers apply.

The first thing Sakura saw was a white ceiling.

"What happened? Where am I? Last thing I remember, those robed freaks—Akatsuki—Jiraya-san said the name Kisame, so that must have been the one that looked like a shark, and Itachi was—?!"

Sakura's eyes widened as she bolted upright, immediately wincing as the movement sparked a wave of soreness into her awareness.

"Sasuke-kun?! Naruto?!"

There was no answer. They weren't surrounding her bed, unlike the last time she'd been in the hospital. The room was empty. She was alone.

She pushed off her covers and threw her legs over the bed, sending another terrible ache through her body, which she ignored as she pushed herself to her feet. But when she collapsed, falling to the floor with a yelp and a loud thud, she came to the conclusion that maybe she shouldn't ignore the pain radiating through her.

She heard the sound of hurried footsteps and the door sliding open. Glancing up, she saw a nurse flanked by Ino, and Hinata. Kurenai stood behind them.

"Forehead!" Ino shouted in concern, running to her friend's side along with the nurse, and helping her back into the bed.

"You shouldn't have tried to move so much so quickly!" The nurse admonished. "You have muscle tears throughout your whole body! Moving too much now will tear them more!"

"Well how was I supposed to know that!" Sakura snapped before freezing. She closed her eyes, her lips pursing tightly as she took a deep inhale.

"Why?…Why am I so irritated? Why am I still so irritated?"

"Sorry…I'm just…a little on edge."

"It's fine. I'm a nurse, I've heard worse." The woman dismissed.

"What happened? Where are Sasuke-kun and Naruto? Are they safe?"

"Gai brought you and Sasuke back. Both of you were unconscious. Naruto stayed with Master Jiraya to go look for Tsunade-sama."

"What?! Naruto's still out there?! But it's not safe! Those people—"

"Sakura." Kurenai cut her off with a shake of her head. "Not now. We can talk about this later, but he'll be fine. He's with Master Jiraya, one of the three legendary Sanin after all."

Hinata looked anxiously between them. "N-Naruto-kun's in danger?"

Kurenai sighed. "Ninja are always in danger Hinata. Especially those who are children of clan leaders or possess powerful kekkei genkai like you and Sasuke. You should know. There've been several kidnapping attempts made on you. Naruto happens to fall in a similar category, and for now, that's all I'm permitted to say on the matter. But he'll be fine. Like I said, he's with one of the three legendary Sanin, and seeking out another."

"…She must not be allowed to discuss the nine-tailed fox…and she clearly doesn't want me talking about the Akatsuki in front of Ino-pig and Hinata-chan either…which means even knowledge of them isn't permitted at genin level…Itachi was strong enough to take out the entire Uchiha clan five years ago, and he's probably only gotten stronger since…going by that, those two'd have to be at least A-rank criminals, maybe even S-rank. I know she said Jiraya's one of the legendary Sanin, and Naruto definitely got stronger while training under him, but can that pervy guy really take two S-rank criminals and protect Naruto?"

"Where's Sasuke-kun?"

"He and Kakashi are in another room."

"Wait…both of them?"

"We fixed much of the physical damage on Sasuke-san and there was none on Kakashi-san, but the real damage appears to be mental. Both are comatose. Only Tsunade-sama would have the skill needed to heal them." The nurse explained. "But really, you should focus on your own healing for now. I don't know what you were doing to have torn all your muscles like this, but it must have been incredibly reckless. The tears themselves aren't too severely debilitating, and will heal on their own, but you need to rest your muscles for at least a week—"

"Ice them to reduce swelling, soak in epsom salt baths, and stretch very gently. I know."

The nurses mouth snapped shut as she blinked at the pink haired girl in front of her.

"Were you the one to set Sasuke-san's wrist?"

Sakura nodded absently, still worrying more over her teammates.

"You did it correctly…where'd you learn how to do that? Because of that, we were able to heal that injury easily. It would have taken much longer otherwise."

"Forehead's a wiz at that sorta thing." Ino stated proudly on Sakura's behalf. "She probably read about how to do it in a book somewhere."

Sakura felt herself relax a little for the first time since waking up, giving Ino a small smile before turning back to the nurse.

"Is it possible for me to be moved into Sasuke-kun and Kakashi-sensei's room?"

The nurse picked at her sleeve. "We try to keep patients grouped by ailment, but there are some open beds in that room, so I'll look into it. I'll go get you some ice."

Once the nurse left, Ino fixed Sakura with a serious look.

"You had a chakra reaction didn't you?"

"Chakra reaction? I-is this related to your k-kekkei genkai you and N-Naruto-kun mentioned yesterday."

"Ah…right. I never did get a chance to tell you…" Sakura slowly settled herself against the hospital pillow and gave a long sigh, before recounting her clan curse, what it was, what it did, its low survival rate, its relation to her father's death, and her method of handling it.

"S-So that's why you w-wanted to t-train every other day. Those days you weren't with us, you were training to c-control your k-kekkei genkai?"

"Yeah."

"Knowing that you don't fight recklessly normally, I take it this damage is from your last reaction. What happened? Are the sedatives not working?"

Sakura contemplated the ceiling, her lips pursed tightly. "I didn't used to fight so recklessly but now…what's wrong with me? I'm jumping into things without any thought, I'm not thinking things through, being careful, or coming up with plans. I'm so irritated and I'm losing my temper so quickly…what's going on?"

"Don't we have a right to be angry…?"

"It's not that…the sedative works, but it's different…genjutsu scenarios really don't compare to the real thing…I knew they wouldn't to some extent, but I didn't realize it would be so different. There've been two times now where even though I knew I needed to calm down, I didn't want to…I chose not to."

"What was different? This is the first time you've landed yourself in the hospital with actual damage to your body caused solely by a reaction."

"The first time was when my…when it happened the first time, there was something I was desperate to do…I couldn't let myself go unconscious until I found…" She stopped and took a deep breath when she felt her throat start to tighten. She blinked rapidly at the ceiling until she found her voice again. "That time, I passed a lot of my chakra off to Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke-kun. So even though I didn't stop the reaction I handled it better because I'd shared so much chakra…this time…I was furious, I didn't even think about stoping the reaction. I didn't share any of my chakra—only enough to break the genjutsu on Sasuke-kun, but then I just went on the attack. I didn't care about the reaction, I just wanted to punch that guy in the face…one of them had a sword that absorbed chakra or something—cause he absorbed some of it…but it just kept coming…It only stopped because I got knocked out."

"You're gonna need to log that. Do you have your notebook on you?" Ino asked.

Sakura shook her head. "I didn't really have anything on me. When everything happened, Sasuke-kun was dragging me to meet Kakashi-sensei…"

"He probably wanted to get rid of me and make Kakashi-sensei look after me instead, since I'd been so rude to him…"

"I hadn't really been planning on leaving the apartment, and even if I had, I didn't expect something like this to happen, so I wasn't really packed or well stocked. I only had time to grab my weapons pouch…"

"You should start keeping it with you at all times, along with the sedative, since you never know when something could trigger an attack." Ino admonished lightly. "Do you want me to get it for you?"

"Is this just an excuse to break into Sasuke-kun's apartment?"

"Of course not!" Ino cried, indignantly crossing her arms over her chest and turning her face away—a clear sign she was lying. "Obviously I'm doing it to get you your journal, since you are my best friend, billboard brow!" That was true…but why couldn't she kill two birds with one stone and use the time to snoop a little?

"I appreciate it, piggy, but I'm not giving anyone permission to go into Sasuke-kun's apartment without asking him first, since it is his space…and since I can't do that at the moment, answer's no."

"I'll get it." Kurenai said, rising. "I outrank you both, so I don't need your permission. If Sasuke's got a problem with it, he can take it up with me. Where are you keeping it? I won't touch anything other than your stuff."

"It's in the cardboard box under the coffee table. You'll see it when you first walk in."

Kurenai nodded, and left the room, leaving the three genin girls alone together.

Ino sighed sadly, leaning back in her chair. "What a wasted opportunity." She muttered, making Hinata giggle, before her ice blue eyes settled back on Sakura seriously. "I guess our hypothesis about you having more control over anger was wrong…"

"I don't know…maybe it was, maybe it wasn't…we thought that because my head was clearer…it still was. I had more awareness, I could hear just fine, everything hurt but it wasn't getting in the way of my processing the way it does when other things cause the attack…it just made me disregard it…"

"I-If that's the case, maybe you d-don't always have to calm down. Maybe i-if you're angry, you j-just have to share a lot of your chakra first…the way you described the o-other time." Hinata suggested timidly. She wasn't sure if it was her place, having only just learned about all of this and not having been involved with the initial training. She was also hesitant to mention the other time…none of them were stupid, they all had known Sakura was talking about when she found her mother dead.

"…Maybe…"

"That time, I knew the reaction would stall me from finding…So I was trying to keep it at bay. That's why I shared so much of it, and my focus or need was enough to—it's not like it calmed me down, but I wasn't focused on my panic…that must have been enough to slow the production a little…not stop the reaction entirely, but give me a bit more control over it. But this past time, I didn't try to share any, I was focused on how angry I was and how much I wanted to punch Itachi and it only made me angrier when I wasn't succeeding…Even when that Kisame guy's sword sucked up some of my chakra, it still only made me angrier…that must have been the difference. It's like what Kakashi-sensei was trying to give me with the chakra weights, I need a focus that distracts me from or keeps the triggering emotion at bay."

"S-Sakura-chan, if it's alright with you, the next time you work on controlling your k-kekkei genkai…can I help? My byakugan isn't as strong as N-Neji-niisan's, but maybe I c-could see something that might be useful…"

"That's a great idea, Hinata-chan!" Ino answered immediately. "I'm still working on my sensory perception—I'm not great at it yet, so I'm still missing a lot of detail, but your eyes will probably be better at picking that stuff up!"

"Yeah. That sounds good. Thanks." Sakura agreed, giving Hinata a small smile. Really though, she didn't want to think about her kekkei genkai, how this attack had actually done physical damage, or how if she didn't get this handled, she might not make it through the year. She felt tired, sore, annoyed, and worried. And she didn't want to end up taking it out on her friends that cared enough to be sitting there with her so she wasn't left alone. She just wanted her mom, and her team, alive, awake and safe.

"Why is that so much to ask for?"

Ino and Hinata seemed to sense Sakura's weariness, as they moved on to other topics like clan training and rules, and their team dynamics…topics that gave Sakura the option of joining without requiring her participation. It actually was a bit soothing, letting her friends' calm, happy voices coax her into a state of partial relaxation.

At a certain point, after the nurse had returned and covered Sakura in ice packs, the two girls bid her farewell, having to return home.

Kurenai returned with her journal, and a change of clothes for her, setting the journal and pen in her lap for her to record her experience. Sakura pursed her lips as she began to record everything they'd talked about earlier, as well as Hinata's new suggestion and her hypothesis of a focus activity that stalled or lessoned the intensity of the emotion and thus gave her more control.

"We should resume your training to get more control over this."

"…but real situations are so different from genjutsu simulations. It's harder to focus on calming down when the problem doesn't end the second the attack starts…"

"Hm…maybe we need to find a way to extend the illusion of the genjutsu."

"Genjutsu shatters with the attack though…"

"So extending it without the use of genjutsu."

"I…"

"I don't want to! It hurts! Life's been enough of a nightmare—why do I have to keep forcing myself to watch the worst things possible, and feel my own chakra tearing me apart! It's not fair! It hurts so much—I…I hate this!" The words fell from her lips in a voice that sounded suspiciously like her inner self.

Kurenai's eyes softened. Sakura had never once complained about their training…but Kurenai always felt bad about it. No matter how she looked at it, it was emotional torture, and with the turn the girl's life had taken, she didn't blame her for being overwhelmed and unable to deal with it at the moment.

"…Sakura, we don't have to resume immediately. If you need some time, that's fine. It's not like it's been that long since our last training session anyways. It is unfair. But this isn't training you can set aside forever. Take some time, but you're going to need to come back to this…sooner rather than later."

"I know…I…I'm sorry. I'm the one who asked you to do this. It was my idea. I shouldn't be complaining…I just…I can't get right back to it…not right now."

Kurenai sighed. She didn't know where along the line this girl got the idea that she wasn't ever allowed to complain or be upset with her circumstances…she placed too much pressure on herself. Anyone in her shoes would be completely crumbling.

"It's alright Sakura. You can take a break, so long as you know that's what it is. Whenever you feel a bit more ready, we'll start again. And we can start slow. Only one trigger a day."

Sakura shook her head. "Thank you sensei, but that wouldn't be good for data. We need to do at least two a day to see if there's any growth or change. But…thank you, for the break."

"It's your chakra, your emotions, your body, and your experiment, Sakura. That means it all depends on you. It'd be dangerous for me to force you to resume it before you're ready."

Sakura nodded. "I promise, I'll come back to it…um, sensei?"

"What is it?"

"You said Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke-kun are in a coma right?"

"Yes."

"And only Tsunade-sama can fix it…how long do you think it'll take Naruto and Jiraya-sensei to find her?"

"No idea. Konoha lost all contact with her. It hopefully won't take too long, but I imagine it'll at least be two weeks, probably much longer."

"Two weeks is all it takes for muscles to start to atrophy with no exercise. And if it takes much longer…neither Kakashi-sensei nor Sasuke-kun would appreciate that…I should be good to move in a day or two, and giving them physical therapy shouldn't be too strenuous. Although they're not civilians like mom was…they'll probably need a more intense workout to keep their muscles in shape…maybe I should find some weights…"

"I understand. Thank you."

"Get some rest Sakura."

Kurenai left, leaving Sakura alone to stare at the ceiling.

It was a full day of bed rest and icing before Sakura could move at all again. Even then it was slow and pained. But that didn't matter to her. As soon as she gained some semblance of mobility, she was out of her room and struggling into Sasuke and Kakashi's.

The worst of Sasuke's physical damage had been treated and he was healing quickly. Kakashi didn't have any physical wounds to begin with. Sakura carefully watched the rise and fall of their chests, relived to find them steady and rhythmic. She checked their pulses, finding those even and within normal range as well. They were both running very low grade fevers, but it was really nothing too concerning—Sasuke tended to run high anyways. The only problem truly was that they were comatose. She remembered reading that sometimes people in a coma could hear when you spoke to them, and having nothing better to do at the moment and no one else to talk to, Sakura decided to try it.

"Hey…Sasuke-kun. Kakashi-sensei. It's me…Sakura. You're gonna be okay. Naruto is looking for Tsunade-sama…she'll be able to heal you and wake you up…I've read a lot about her. She's mentioned in almost every single medical text book I've read. I even read some of her published notes from her time in the Konoha medical corps. I used to wish I could talk to her…about my mom…"

She felt anger start to well inside of her. "It's not fair…she shouldn't have died. I should have saved her…it's not fair! They shouldn't be in here!"

Walking jinx…

She's cursed. Anyone close to her ends up getting killed.

Sakura plopped into the chair next to Sasuke's bed, feeling frustrated, angry, and brimming with doubts.

"I know…I know it's not all my fault. It can't be. Orochimaru, the Akatsuki…they didn't go after them because of me, they went after them because of them. Orochimaru wants the Sharingan and the Akatsuki want the nine tails. I know that…mom's death…that is my fault…but the attack didn't happen because of me. Orochimaru had a vendetta against the village and the creepy giant snake was just being a creepy giant snake. None of that is my fault, so why…why is it always the people closest to me that get sick, hurt, or end up dying? Why is it that when I'm around, things always seem to go the worst way possible?"

"Who cares if it's a curse or jinx or bad luck! Shannaro! We'll just get stronger so no matter what happens, we can take care of it!"

In that moment, she wished for nothing more than to hear her mother tell her she was strong. That she believed in her and was rooting for her. But her mother could never say those words to her again…

Sakura took a deep breath, swallowing hard against her tightening throat.

"Tsunade-sama…it'll be a little while before she gets here. But I'll try and make sure that you guys are still strong when she finally comes to wake you up. And…I'll stay with you here. I'm not going to let you be alone…you're…when you finally wake up, it's not going to be to an empty room. I promise."

And though Sakura was released from the hospital the next day with instructions to ice, stretch, and rest her muscles for the rest of the week, she didn't leave the hospital, instead relocating to the chair in Kakashi and Sasuke's room.

Sakura knew a fair amount about physical therapy, both from treating her own sprains and occasional breaks, as well as making sure her mother's muscles didn't completely atrophy when she'd grown too weak to leave their apartment. But her mother was a civilian and Sasuke and Kakashi were shinobi. Strong shinobi. Sakura knew that to keep their muscle tone as intact as possible, she'd need a more rigorous workout than what she'd done with her mother.

That was how Sakura found herself in Lee's hospital room, surrounded by his team, who was visiting him.

"Lovely Sakura-san! Your youthful presence is a blessing to my day!"

"Uh…it's good to see you too, Lee-san." Sakura answered with a polite smile. While she now deeply respected and cared for Lee, she still wasn't entirely sure what to do with his fawning compliments. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm following the instructions you laid out, though I must admit, it's…aggravating to not be able to train more…" Lee answered, his fist tightening in his lap, as his gaze dropped sadly.

"Lee-san…"

"Hey, did you hear? Naruto is out with Master Jiraya, looking for Tsunade-sama?"

Lee looked up at her confusion on his features. Apparently he had not heard. But he didn't get the chance to ask further.

"Tsunade-sama? As in the Senju Tsunade-sama?! The legendary kunoichi and one of the three sanin?!" Tenten asked excitedly, leaning in, her chocolate eyes bright.

Neji watched her from the corner of his eye, the slightest smirk on his face. He always found it…cute when Tenten got like this. The reaction was unsurprising, after all, he knew Tenten better than anyone, and Senju Tsunade was her goal.

"Uh…" Sakura murmured, a little caught off guard by the older girl's enthusiasm. "Yeah…that's the one. You know her?"

"Know her?! She's my idol! I'm gonna be a legendary kunoichi like her someday! Kunoichi hardly ever reach the level of renown that male shinobi get, but she's the exception! She's one of the most famous ninja in the Five Great Nations! She's really coming back to Konoha?!"

"Mhm! That's the plan…" Sakura said with a smile.

"Assuming they find her and she agrees to come back…though I don't know why she wouldn't…"

"Um…am I missing something? Who is this Tsunade-sama?" Lee asked unsurely.

"Don't you ever listen!" Tenten cried in exasperation. Seriously! How many times had she raved about the legendary sanin, and he hadn't heard a single word?!

"Tsunade-sama is a legendary kunoichi from Konoha. A renowned medic a possessor of incredible physical strength." Neji recited. How could he not know after how many times Tenten spoke of her. He felt gratified when Tenten flashed him a relieved smile, though he gave no indication externally.

"That's right. She's the best medical ninja in the Five Great Nations. Maybe she might be able to help with your injury." Sakura said. She really hoped the woman could…she didn't want to give Lee false hope, which was why she'd picked her words carefully. There were no promises in her statement, nor had she implied that the sanin would be able to heal him 100%. But if there was any doctor who could heal him, it was Tsunade.

Lee's eyes widened in excitement and hope. "You really think so, Sakura-san?"

"Well…maybe. Nothing's for certain but—"

Apparently that wishy washy answer was enough for Lee, as he erupted in tears of happiness.

"Oh that's the best news! Sakura-san, you really are a youthful messenger of the heavens! Gai-sensei the spring of my youth is not yet over!"

"That's right Lee! You're overflowing with youthful energy! Your spring is still blooming!"

"You two are seriously so embarrassing." Tenten sighed, closing her eyes and leaning back against the wall. Neji twitched in annoyance at their antics.

"So Sakura, what happened? I heard Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke are in a coma…is that true?" Tenten asked, regarding the pink haired girl in concern. She hoped not, for her sake. Sakura clearly loved team 7 as much as TenTen did her own team…and she knew she'd be devastated if Gai and Neji were comatose. But one look at Sakura's sinking expression confirmed the worst.

"My arch rival Kakashi as well as his treasured pupil, Sasuke, succumbed to a formidable enemy." Gai supplied gravely.

"No detail in that…So they really are keeping the Akastuki a secret from us genin."

"A formidable enemy?" Neji asked curiously, also noting the unnatural lack of detail in Gai's statement.

"Will they be alright?" Tenten asked, giving Sakura a concerned look.

The pink haired girl shrugged a little, looking away.

"That's why Naruto's looking for Tsunade-sama. She's the only one with the medical skill necessary to wake them…until then, I'm gonna try to make sure they're in top condition while we wait for her, which is actually why I'm here. Gai-sensei, do you have some leg weights I could borrow?"

Gai broke into a wide manic smile before launching into a lengthy tirade about youth, training, and the merits of sweat and hard work.

An hour later, Gai delivered two sets of leg weights to Sakura. One 11.3 kg and the other 22.6 kg.

"Gods…this is gonna be as much of a workout for me as it is for them…"

Sakura wasted no time, pulling back Sasuke's covers and attaching the lighter set to Sasuke's legs. She carefully lifted Sasuke's leg and and began bending it at the knee, bringing it into his chest, before extending it back out, her hold light but firm, careful to allow the muscle to work. She repeated that process fifty times on each side, before changing the exercise to single leg lifts and double leg lifts, doing fifty reps of each. She then removed the leg weights, pulled the covers back up, attached them to his wrists and lightly maneuvering his arms to do bicep curls, arm swings, and arm raises, doing fifty sets of each. She considered making him do crunches, but she already felt weird enough about what she was doing…it wasn't like she had his permission. She knew when he did wake up, he'd be glad his muscles hadn't deteriorated, but she doubted he'd be thrilled if he found out what that entailed.

She then moved on to Kakashi, attaching the heavier weight set to his legs and repeated the same set of exercises with him, all under Gai's uncomfortably intense scrutiny.

"So this is what you wanted leg weights for. Where did you learn how to do this?" He finally inquired. He didn't know anything about this particular student of Kakashi's other than his precious Lee was in love with her, and she'd somehow been aware of Orochimaru's presence in the preliminaries.

"I studied it…it's recommended for comatose patients or those suffering from temporary paralysis…" She answered, finally finishing. Her arms felt embarrassingly rubbery, having to already contend with her fifty percent chakra weights as well as the leg weights plus the added kilos of her teammate and sensei's limbs. "To help prevent muscle atrophy."

"That was tiring…"

Sakura set the weights down, rolling out her shoulders. "Thank you for these, Gai-sensei. I'll return them when Sasuke-kun and Kakashi-sensei wake up."

"What youthful care for your teammates! Keep those weights as long as necessary!" Gai knew Kakashi was very protective of this particular student of his, he'd seen it in how he'd jumped to her defense in the chunin exams final during the Sound's attack—to be fair, the other two were quite a handful, being the nine tails carrier and the last of the Uchiha clan, this girl had less to work with than they had…sort of like how his Lee had been. But he wondered if some of that protectiveness was because she reminded him of her. Of his old kunoichi teammate…there were similarities. Both were incredibly caring and gentle, both were dead set on looking after their teammates, both were knowledgeable about medical care—although, that old teammate had been a medical ninja…had Sakura ever considered that path?

Sakura smiled and bowed to him. "Thank you so much sensei! I have to step out for a bit." She turned back to her unconscious teammates. "There's some stuff I have to take care of, but I'll be back later." Sakura gave one last bow to Gai before leaving the room.

Sakura stood over Sasuke's stove, boiling various herbs, cutting, grinding, and pulping others. It had occurred to her while she was helping Sasuke and Kakashi that she had no money. Whether she stayed at the hospital or at Sasuke's, she still needed to feed herself. If she let herself waste away, there'd be no one to look after her teammates. She couldn't just keep leeching off of Ino and Hinata either. Those two had already done so much for her as it was. At the moment, her team wouldn't be getting any missions. That meant she was back to side hustles.

As soon as she'd left the hospital, she'd found Shikamaru at his house and asked to take him up on his offer to have him walk her through his family's forest. Normally, he'd complain about it being a drag, but he hadn't this time. It had been the first time she'd tried to see him since the funeral, and he'd heard what happened to her teammates. His concern for her as his friend kept him from stalling or complaining about it, instead immediately getting up and leading her there. She'd gathered tons, from flowers to herbs to roots, for medicinal, cooking, and beauty purposes, and there was so much growing in the forest that even with how much she'd picked and dug up, there were still so much more of everything—she hadn't even made a dent in any of it. Shikamaru had surprised her by helping her carry it all back to Sasuke's. When she'd asked about it, he simply shrugged and said Ino would strangle him if he made Sakura carry everything by herself, which was probably true, though it sounded like a made up excuse. She'd caught him watching her carefully to make sure she was ok. When they'd parted ways he once again told her that he'd take her to the forest anytime and that they should play shogi soon.

Sakura gave the pot another stir before checking on how her ointment was setting in the fridge. She removed the tray of containers, satisfied with their consistency.

"Perfect." Sakura made a note on a scrap of paper, muttering to herself as she took inventory. "35 jars of ointment—minus ten which I'm keeping, 4 bottles of bloodroot cough syrup, 16 bottles of immune booster—minus two which I'm keeping, 7 energy boosters…He should pay pretty well for all this…" She wasn't finished making all of them. Several still needed time to sit and cool, but she could drop by Ikehara's with the list to see what he'd be interested in and then drop them off the next day.

She glanced at the beauty products she'd made, which were far fewer. They didn't take as much time, but she didn't have as much of a relationship with Konoha's Beauty Boutique…they were still getting to know her and her products so they wouldn't buy as much in one pop anyway. She only had eight sets of shampoo, conditioner, face wash, and moisturizer, three of which were set aside for her, Ino, and Hinata. She had to thank them, after all, and she'd missed several birthdays of theirs as well.

"Ok so…I'll sell the five sets of beauty products to the boutique and on my way back, drop off this list with Ikehara and see what he'll take. Then I'll clean all this up and go back to the hospital…."

Game plan made, Sakura emptied out her box of belongings, loaded it up with her beauty products, pocketed her list and set out to make some money.

It was late afternoon by the time Sakura walked into Ikehara's. To her surprise, the woman at the beauty boutique not only eagerly bought Sakura's products for 900 ryo, but commissioned her to make another larger batch of her hair rinse, which had apparently sold very well the first time.

Ikehara looked up when he heard the bell over the door chime. He'd never say it out loud and gave no external reaction to indicate his feelings, but he was relieved to see her. When all hell broke loose at the chunin exams, he assumed she, like the rest of the ninja, would be fine…they were shinobi after all. But he hadn't seen her around at all after all the commotion. That wasn't weird or abnormal, but it was nice to know she was okay.

"I saw your match."

"That's right, you were there!" Sakura shifted a little shyly. "What did you think, Ikehara-san?"

"About what I expected." It was curt and dismissive, but that was just how he talked. It was actually a compliment. He didn't think highly of most people, shinobi or civilian. The fact that he actually had high expectations of Sakura was just about the biggest compliment he could give.

"You thought I'd win?" Sakura asked, surprised. While she knew her mother and team had absolute faith that she would win, and that her friends were rooting for her hoping she'd win, everyone else had been sure she'd lose. As it turned out, apparently Ikehara could be added to the list of people who'd had absolute faith she'd win.

"Isn't that what I just said?" Ikehara answered gruffly before changing the subject. "So whatcha got for me?"

Sakura set the list on the counter and waited as Ikehara's eyes skimmed over it. Internally, his brows furrowed, though there was no change of expression on his face. This was more than she'd ever tried to sell him at once.

"3,500."

Sakura's jaw dropped. "W-What?!"

"For all of this. 3,500."

"That…That's more than I've ever made on one sale!"

Ikehara seemed to read her expression. "Large amount of quality products. What did you think I'd pay you? 1,000? Less? Anyone tries bullshit like that, it's exploitation. Know your worth, kid."

Sakura swallowed hard. "Th-Thank you, Ikehara-san."

"3,500?! I could eat three full meals a day for a whole month and still have ryo left over!"

"We're rich! We're rich! We're rich! Shannaro!"

"…if only…if only I'd made this much before…I could have saved much more for mom's treatment…I could have got her real medical attention…"

Just like that, with the dark turn her mind had taken, Sakura felt anger churning in her all over again.

"Is this some sick joke…Now that she's dead, I'll finally start making enough to save her. I should have been faster, damnit! I should have earned more back then! Then she'd still be alive! She would have never been in that crummy apartment, she'd have been in a hospital, safe and being looked after! Damnit!"

"It's not fair!"

Forcing a convincing smile on to her lips to hide her self aimed anger, she thanked Ikehara and told him she'd drop everything off tomorrow.

"Kid, you ever make antidotes?"

The question was enough to temporarily distract Sakura from her self hatred.

"Antidotes? No. Don't they each have to be tailored to specific poisons?"

"Yes and no. There are some antidotes that work on more than one poison. Poisons based around one family of plant can often be neutralized, nullified, or weakened by one antidote. It won't necessarily fix everything, depending on what the poisons been mixed with, but it would get you out of the woods for a time…" He studied her carefully. "I got a commission for you. Five generalized antidotes for the most common poison found in each of the Five Great Nations. You up for it?"

Sakura's inquisitiveness, and love of knowledge and challenge, wrestled control from her anger, now taking up the forefront of her mind, already working to tackle the problem set before her.

"I'm gonna have to do some independent research…" She murmured, her brows furrowing in thought.

"But that's fine though. For the next five days to a week, I have to let my muscles rest, so it's not like I can train. My team is…I'm not going to get any missions. With 4,400 ryo, I'll be able to eat better than I have in my entire life and I'll still be set for the month since I don't have to pay rent or save up for mom's treatment. I don't have to worry about looking after mom either so—"

Her mind came screeching to an abrupt halt.

"What the hell was that?! What the hell am I thinking?!"

"We're free. We don't have to worry anymore. We can spend our time the way we want to now."

"DON'T! Shut up. Stop saying that."

The relief that she buried had started seeping into her conscious mind, sparking a new wave of self loathing and anger. Sasuke may have forgiven her for her relief, but she hadn't forgiven herself yet. Especially not when it had been her resounding thought while under Itachi's evil genjutsu. Freedom should not have been her loudest thought while seeing the genjutsu recreation of her mother's death.

She blinked. Ikehara was studying her, waiting for an answer. Putting on her perfect fake smile, she looked up at him giving an affirmative nod.

"You got it."

The next day, Sakura awoke from a restless sleep in the chair next to Sasuke's bed, feeling irritated. After checking both her teammate's temperatures, she forced them each to drink a little bit of the tonic she'd brought back with her the day before. A mix of Inyokaku, Gomishi, Ginseng, and black tea to help stimulate the mind, blood, and immune system. She knew it wouldn't wake them up, but if it helped lessen the damage even a little…at least it made her feel like she was doing something for them. Of course she'd okayed it with their attending medic first, not wanting to step out of line or do something the doctor wasn't aware of.

She gently stretched out her muscles, before beginning her physical therapy treatment for her teammates. She'd come to discover that the hospital staff didn't have any faith that Sasuke or Kakashi would wake up without Tsunade's interference, nor did they believe that their conditions would change in the slightest, meaning the nurse only checked in on them once a day in the afternoon. Sakura was both thankful and unbelievably annoyed by that. On one hand, it was nice that she didn't have to be bothered with frequent nurse check ins or having them walk in on something embarrassing like her stretching in the middle of the hospital room floor. On the other hand, it seemed ridiculous to her that they were actually satisfied with only checking in on a patient once a day, and that they just expected them to stay in the exact same state with out any changes, be it positive or negative. They didn't even have a full blown medic checking on them, just a nurse. Sakura didn't have anything against nurses, they were important and worked hard, but the nurse they had looking in on Sasuke and Kakashi didn't even check them out with chakra. She just took their vitals the manual way—Sakura could do that—changed their IV bags, and that was it! What was even the point of being in a hospital in the first place if that was all they were gonna do while they waited?

After finishing with their exercises, she went back to Sasuke's, getting her medicinal concoctions to deliver to Ikehara. She planned to stop at the library on the way back to pick up a book about common poisons across the Five Great Nations. True to his word, Ikehara paid her the full 3,500 ryo he promised, leaving Sakura both excited and disgusted as she left the shop.

3,500 was only a little less than what Kakashi had given her for their Land of Waves mission. But that had been charity and she knew it. This was all her. Actually deserved for the labor she'd put in and quality of the product she'd made. And that felt good. It was exciting having that much money in her possession…she knew it was nothing compared to what Ino and Hinata had. It wasn't even much next to Naruto's fund…although his allowance was given to him on a weekly basis so he'd probably never been in possession of such a large amount of money at once either. She didn't have any obligations about where to put this money. Her earnings were entirely her own for the first time ever, and she was free to use it however she pleased, with no responsibility or consequences attached to that choice. That was so exciting to her.

And it was disgusting. Because it felt too much like she was happy her mother was gone, which couldn't be farther from the truth.

Sakura was too caught up in her self reproach to notice the thief walking towards her. She'd only snapped into awareness after it was too late. The envelope with her money in it had been grabbed and the thief was off and running. All of the anger she'd been directing towards herself now settled on the man running away, and before she could even think about what was doing, she took off after him and tackled him straight to the ground. She pressed her knee into his back, her forearm crushing hard into his shoulders.

"Give it back." Her voice was dark and menacing.

"You crazy bitch!"

"Give me my money back now, or I'll break your spine." She said, her voice only growing more dangerous as her knee pressed into him harder.

"S-Stop it! F-Fine. Take it!" He shouted desperately, releasing the envelope of money. Sakura snatched it and pushed off him, turning around and dropping her head so no one could see her face.

"What the hell am I doing?!"

She had known immediately that that man was a civilian from the way he ran, how ungracefully he'd taken her tackle, the less than toned muscle mass. And she'd still threatened him none the less.

"I could have really hurt him…I used to have so much compassion for thieves and pickpockets cause I was one. I was one of them too…I always went after people who flaunted it…who I knew wouldn't miss anything I took, but still…I know what it's like to be desperate enough to see that as your only option so why…why did I react so strongly…"

She could hear the murmurs and whispers of the on lookers around.

"Just our luck…"

A couple of Ami's drones had witnessed everything.

"That was the Walking Jinx right?"

"Yeah that was her—I didn't believe Ami-chan when she said that raggedy brat beat her up since she was always so cowardly and passive, but I guess she was right. The Walking Jinx really is coming unhinged."

"The village shouldn't let a volatile curse like her walk around with normal people! They should've kicked her out ages ago."

Sakura shot both girls a Sasuke worthy glare filled with rage causing both to still in fear.

"If that's all they'll ever see me as then to hell with it! I'm so tired of their bullshit!"

"You know…It's obvious why you didn't even graduate. You really thought you could become ninja when you can't even gossip without your target hearing you?…You talk an awful lot of crap for two people who are afraid of catching my bad luck. Should I just follow you around for today? With how much of a walking jinx I am, you'll probably be dead by moonrise, wouldn't you say?"

The two girls visibly paled.

"Uh! Y-You know, that's alright, you don't have to do that!"

"Y-Yeah! B-Besides, it's not like we actually believe all that walking j-jinx stuff anyways!"

Sakura cocked her head, her eyes narrowing dangerously.

"You don't? Then you should stop wasting your breath on it, wouldn't you say?"

"Y-You're totally right! We should definitely do that!"

"We gotta go, Sakura, s-so let's just forget this ever happened, yeah?" The girl quickly grabbed her friends wrist and sprinted off.

Sakura's fist tightened. Maybe she should have felt victorious, but really she just felt horrible.

"Great…now they believe this dumb walking jinx crap even more…not that they're wrong but…now they're genuinely afraid of me…"

It was so so irritating.

She took a deep breath and headed for the library.

"Focus on the task at hand. Learn about common poisons in the Five Great Nations, look after Sasuke-kun and Kakashi-sensei, stretch and take care of your muscles."

But it was getting harder and harder. She knew her teammates weren't going to wake up on their own. That only Tsunade would be able to heal them. She knew that, but it didn't stop her from hoping their eyes would open every second she spent in their room. She felt so unbelievably useless. She couldn't do anything for them, couldn't get them to wake up, no matter what tonics she forced down their throats or how hard she worked their muscles. And when two weeks went by, the minimum amount of time she'd been told, with no sign of Naruto or Tsunade, Sakura's mind began conjuring the hopeless what ifs.

"What if he never finds her?"

"What if the Akatsuki got to him?"

"What if he's…gone too?"

"Naruto won't go down that easy, shannaro! Trust your teammates damnit!"

"Even if he is alright—"

"He. Is. Fine."

"If he does find her, what if he can't bring her back…she left in the first place, there must have been a reason…what if she doesn't want to come back?"

"Even if she does come back, what if she can't heal them?"

"What if they stay like this forever?"

"What if…what if they leave me too?"

Sakura's thoughts plagued her, reducing the hours and restfulness of her sleep, plaguing her dreams with nightmares, filling her with a sense of helplessness, and making her perpetually irritated.

As soon as her muscles had allowed her she would leave the room to train, practicing her dancers barrage on logs and dummies. It was just an outlet for her to release chakra and to move, and she was so edgy that she preferred not to ask one of her friends to be a sparring partner, lest she lash out and seriously hurt them…none of them deserved that.

Other than that, she only left their hospital room to stop by Sasuke's apartment to make more tonic for them, and work on her commission from Ikehara.

Ino, Hinata, and Shikamaru had all noticed her increasingly edgy behavior whenever they visited her in Sasuke and Kakashi's hospital room. Shikamaru said nothing about it, nor did Hinata though she observed with growing concern. But after two and a half weeks, Ino had had enough.

She and Hinata were visiting Sakura and Sasuke, and by extension Kakashi, in the hospital, as the two girls had done almost every other day. Ino slipped a red rose into the vase on Sasuke's bedside table, smirking at it proudly, going on and on about how when Sasuke woke up, she'd confess her feelings with a full bouquet. But when Sakura made no comment, a frown immediately marred her pretty features. She turned to look at her friend, her brow creasing.

Sakura clearly hadn't been sleeping well at all for the past two weeks…probably even longer since she doubted Sakura slept at all the week after her mother died. Her jade green eyes looked simultaneously present, hyper trained on Sasuke, and faraway, no doubt lost in her own head—which couldn't be a very welcoming place right now. She was jittery, her leg bouncing and her fingers drumming against any surface they ended up in contact with—Sakura had always tended to move a lot, but it was usually more subtle and infinitely more controlled. Ino glanced at Hinata to see that she was watching Sakura with the same studying concern.

"Forehead."

Sakura gave no reaction.

"Forehead!" Ino repeated louder, but again, Sakura wasn't listening.

"Sakura!" Ino finally said, placing herself sturdily in front of her. Sakura jolted like she'd been woken up from a dream, her eyes finding Ino's.

"Pig…what's up?"

"You didn't hear a word I said. Did you?"

Sakura blinked a few times before shaking her head.

"…No, sorry." She murmured softly.

Ino's eyes softened. "You look horrible, Sakura-chan. Stop sleeping in that crappy chair and go home…get some real rest."

"Home?"

Images of her mother smiling at her from her futon in their crummy apartment filled her head. And then everything was in ruins. Her mother's smile gone, replaced by a pale, bloody, dirt streaked hand.

"…What home?"

Sasuke's apartment replaced the image in her head…but Sasuke was in it. In the kitchen. Placing a tea cup in front of her. Hearing the door to his room close. Now, whenever she walked into the apartment, that's all it was. An empty space.

But she didn't have the energy to explain that…that she was more at home here with her two comatose teammates than she was in the resounding emptiness of Sasuke's apartment. So instead she settled on a weak shake of her head.

"You can't keep torturing yourself like this, forehead. This isn't your fault. And you need to take care of yourself too. Eat something other than rice balls and apples from the nearest food stand and sleep in something other than this crappy chair…" Ino admonished softly.

"I can't Pig…"

"I can't leave them…"

Ino was rapidly losing patience…unfortunately, so was Sakura.

"You're not the only one here who loves Sasuke-kun, you know! It doesn't mean you have to be by his side 24/7! You don't see me doing it, and I love him too!" Ino shouted.

"No you don't!" Sakura yelled back, her anger over taking her. "Not like I do! It's not the same and you know it!"

As soon as the words left her mouth, Sakura stilled, processing what she'd said. Her hand shot to her mouth, her eyes wide with horror. Never, never, never had she wanted to invalidate Ino's feelings. Sakura did that to herself all the time, and only now was she starting to realize how damaging it was…thanks to Sasuke. She never wanted to inflict that on anyone else…to make anyone else question their emotions, feel they weren't real or worthy of having them, deny what it was they were feeling, invalidate their experience. Least of all Ino. She was the last person who deserved that—especially from Sakura. Not with how much Sakura loved, cared, and owed to her. If there was one person she never wanted to lash out at, it was Ino.

She slowly dragged her gaze up to Ino's hurt icy blue eyes, guilt washing over her, her anger turning in on herself again.

"I-Ino…I…" She couldn't even find the words, she was so angry at herself. The room was thick with tension and silence.

Ino was speechless. Which didn't happen frequently. She was caught between anger, hurt, worry and…understanding, and it left her unsure of how to respond. She was so angry that Sakura was lashing out at her when all she was trying to do was help and be there for her, and the implication that she didn't truly love Sasuke?! That Sakura's feelings were deeper and more real than hers?! Infuriating! And hurtful. Was she not allowed to care about Sasuke just because Sakura was his teammate? Was she not allowed to love him now that Sakura decided she loved him? Were Sakura's feelings towards him somehow more important than hers?…But she was so worried about her. Sakura was her best friend—and she wasn't the type to say things like that. This was grief speaking. She'd just lost her mother, and barely a week later, two of her three teammates fall into a coma and the third was out of the village. Ino knew no matter how close she was with Sakura—it was just different with teammates. Shikamaru and Choji were like brothers to her. Asuma like an uncle. Teammates were family. And she knew that was just as true for Sakura—maybe even more so…their team was unusually close. You could feel it simply being in the same room with the three of them. So in the span of a week, Sakura had lost the last of her blood family, and her bonded family. Of course she'd lash out. Of course she wouldn't want to leave their side…but Ino still didn't deserve to be spoken to that way.

Unsure of what to say, and not wanting to say something she'd regret, Ino decided to leave. She'd walk away for now, clear her head, and talk to Sakura when she trusted herself to approach from her understanding and not her anger. That didn't stop her from slamming the door though.

Sakura winced at the loud sound, feeling her heart sink. The silence Ino left in her wake ringing.

"Why did I say that? What the hell is wrong with me?! She was just worried about me! Why'd I lash out at her?!"

Hinata shifted uncomfortably, unsure of what to do. After a brief moment, she decided it was best to give Sakura some space…so she gave a quick bow and left quietly closing the door behind her.

Sakura swallowed hard, staring at Sasuke and Kakashi. Moments swam through her head.

The moment her mom opened the door to receive the news her dad was dead.

The moment she'd walked away from Ino outside of the Academy.

The moment she stood in the ruined apartment staring at her moms hand.

The moment she and Sasuke walked into Kakashi's room to see him unconscious, surrounded by Jonin.

The moment the two cloaked figures declared they were after Naruto.

The moment Sasuke screamed, as his brother used that horrible genjutsu against him, before falling into a coma.

A tear fell on to her hand, followed by another, jolting her with surprise. She hadn't cried since they day they'd encountered the Akatsuki. She just felt…so alone. She hadn't felt this alone since the time she'd turned her back on Ino's friendship. But her mom had been there that time, comforting her with her presence, smiling at her. This time, there was no one to do that.

"I…really miss you, mom."

The tears fell harder, and in a weak attempt to comfort herself, she pulled the uncomfortable chair as close to Sasuke's bed as she could, folding her arms on the bed and burying her head in them. She let herself fall apart, her shoulders shaking with sobs, tears falling endlessly until she eventually cried herself to sleep.

"Sakura-chan." She looked up to see her mother sitting against Sasuke's bed, leaning over her. Her eyes soft and smile tender. Sakura knew she was dreaming. Her mother was dead…and this Mebuki looked younger and healthier, the way Sakura remembered her looking before she'd fallen ill.

"…Mom…"

Her mother tsked, leaning back on her hands.

"You're a mess. I thought I raised you better than that." She chided playfully.

"It's so hard…Why'd you have to die? Why'd you have to leave me?"

"Haruno Sakura! Your memory was always freakishly good. Don't tell me you forgot so quickly!" Mebuki admonished seriously.

"Forgot?"

Mebuki reached down and fingered the necklace around her daughter's neck.

"I'm with you always, Sakura. No matter what. I'm always with you, supporting you."

Sakura reached up, grasping the pendant. Despite being in a dream, she actually felt the ridges of the petals against her fingers. She must have been holding it in reality as well…she hadn't grasped it once since her mothers death, even though she'd never taken it off, it was like she'd forgotten she was wearing it. But feeling it now, even through her dream was…comforting.

"I don't know what's happening to me mom…" She whispered. "I'm so angry…all the time."

Her mother actually laughed, making Sakura look up at her in surprise.

"Sakura-chan, you've always been angry all the time."

"What? No I haven't!"

Mebuki pointed a playful finger to her temple. "That little voice in your head? She's always yelling, isn't she?"

Sakura blinked as she stared at her mother's laughing face in shock. She'd never told her mother about her inner self, but then again, this was a dream. Her inner voice was always yelling. Always complaining, shouting, and raging.

"You've been shoving it back so long, you didn't even realize it, hm?"

"But…I don't…I keep doing reckless things, saying things I don't want to say…hurting people. I don't like who I am right now…"

Mebuki cocked her head thoughtfully, her face serious.

"Then maybe stop telling yourself you don't have the right to be mad." Mebuki sighed, placing a hand on her daughters soft pink hair. "You were dealt a rough hand, Sakura. First your father, our poverty, your bullies, then my illness…too many things fell on you that never should have. It's never the job of an eight year old to worry about making money to support two people. It's never the job of a ten year old to be a nurse, doctor, and apothecary. Most kids wouldn't have done it. They wouldn't have been able to carry it all. But you did. And you have the right to be angry at life for making you—gods know you should be since you refuse to blame me."

"None of that was your fault, mom!" Sakura protested.

"And it wasn't yours either. And neither is what happened to your teammates. It's not your responsibility, as a thirteen year old genin, to know how to heal the damage from an extremely powerful and rare genjutsu. So stop blaming and being mad at yourself for this. It's when you're mad at yourself that you hurt others, Sakura-chan."

"But—"

"Every time that inner voice of yours was raging, who was she raging at?"

"Mostly circumstances and how unfair everything was, although sometimes it was at people who were being rude to me or my friends…"

"See?"

"…Um…not really."

"Sakura-chan, you're braver and stronger than anyone else I ever knew. You have a lot of fighting spirit and you don't give up. When you're angry about something, you fight it. You fight life and circumstances and you better your situation or hold on much longer than anyone else would be able too. You get through things. But when you're mad at yourself, the one you fight is yourself and you start taking it out on those around you. Stop fighting being angry. It's how you are. Just don't be angry at yourself."

"How can I not be? Mom…I was…I was relieved when you…" Her voice came out choked and she felt hot tears spilling down her face…which meant she was crying in reality too.

Her mother rolled her eyes. "Of course you were Sakura-chan. I'd be shocked if you weren't. How many times do I have say it. What you went through and put up with was something no kid should have to. And you sacrificed so much because of it. Of course you're relieved. I'd be worried if you weren't."

She knew it was a dream, which meant that this was her own projection of her mother. This was her own self telling her that. But still, it was so easy to believe that sentiment belonged to her mother—it probably did.

"You're not mad?"

"Sakura-chan, why would I be? What happened to me wasn't your fault, the way you've convinced yourself it is. And your relief isn't you being happy that I'm dead. You're relieved that you can focus on pursuing your goal, and don't have to split your time and energy. That you don't have to stress anymore. That's normal Sakura-chan. You should feel that relief. You're not relieved I'm gone. You're relieved your work load has lessened."

Sakura stared at her a minute before turning to look at Sasuke. That was true. She wasn't happy or glad that her mother died…she'd never parsed out what specifically her relief was. Just that it was tied to her mother's death.

"I wish this wasn't just a dream. I'm just talking to myself. I wish it was actually you I was talking to, mom."

Mebuki gave her a flat look.

"Sakura-chan. Have you ever been this kind, forgiving or understanding to yourself?"

Sakura faltered a little.

"You with your big scientific brain. Of course you'd chalk this all up to your own consciousness. But that's fine then. It just proves I'm right."

"About what?"

"That I'm with you, always. Whether I'm a ghost visiting you in your dream, or your own consciousness projecting me. I'm with you Sakura-chan. You're never gonna be truly alone. They'll always be someone there for you. Your teacher, your friends…and if for some reason they're not, I will be. Please tell me you understand that?"

A warmth erupted through her. Her fingers tightened around her necklace.

"Yeah…yeah mom, I get it."

"Good." Her mother glanced over at Sasuke, a mischievous smile making its way to her lips. "Sleeping on Sasuke-kun's bed now? He's pretty cute when he sleeps, huh?"

"Mom!" Sakura whined, her face flushing. Somethings never changed. Even in the afterlife, her mother would tease her.

Mebuki laughed. Before her smile faded to something kinder. "Do tell him eventually, yeah? Poor boy deserves to know that he's still got someone who loves him."

Sakura couldn't look at either of them, her face hot as she shifted a little uncomfortably.

Her mom chuckled and then sighed. "Time for you to wake up, Sakura-chan."

"I don't want to, mom. I wanna stay here with you."

"Sakura-chan." Her mother chided.

"I know. You're with me. Five more minutes?"

Mebuki smiled. Sakura never made requests like that…she was sounding more her age now.

"Okay."

Sakura gave a wet, tear streaked smile. "Thanks mom."

Sakura set her head down on her arms, blinking up at her mother, who smiled down at her softly, stroking her hair and humming that tune she always used to when Sakura was younger.

Sakura felt herself truly relax for what felt like the first time in years. Eventually her eyes drifted close.

When they opened again, the her mother was gone, her hand clutched tight around her necklace. The irritation she'd woken up with for the past two and change weeks was absent.

Sakura took a deep breath and sat up straight, stretching languidly. Her eyes fell on Sasuke and she felt her heart pick up, thinking of how her mother had teased her.

"He looks so much more peaceful than usual…"

"Eeeek Sasuke-kun's so cute when he sleeps!"

She shook her head.

"This isn't a normal sleep. He's in a coma…"

Sasuke and Kakashi were in a coma, and there was nothing she could do about that. It was infuriating. But it wasn't her fault. And neither was what happened to her mother. Her hand tightened around her necklace, untucking it from under her top so it was displayed proudly in the open.

Her eyes fell on the rose in the vase at Sasuke's bed side.

"I need to apologize to Ino-pig…"

She took a deep breath, turning to Sasuke and Kakashi.

"I'm not giving up to on you two. I'm pissed that you're both in here, stuck like this…But Naruto will find Tsunade-sama, and she's gonna wake you both up, and until them I'll do what I can for you both…even if it's not much."

She walked out of the room, planning to go apologize to Ino, but there was a stop she needed to make first.

Sakura stood in front of her mother's grave, staring down at the stone sadly. She took a deep breath, and then a small smile made its way to her face.

"Sorry mom…It's been a couple weeks since I visited. A lot happened. But you know that already. I'm sure you saw…you're always with me, right? I'm sorry I forgot that. So I'm sure you already know, but I wanted to be able to tell you…I won my match! You were right. He underestimated me a lot, but I thought of what you said and used it against him…you really would have been scary if you were a Shinobi, mom. I guess I'll just have to be that shinobi for you, huh? I always have been angry after all…" Her fingers traced over her pendent. "Thank you for visiting me last night…or whatever that was. Do it again, sometime…when I'm having a rough time. I'm not giving up. I'm gonna get stronger and help a lot of people. But sometimes…it's really hard. And I forget or can't see what you saw in me. So when that happens…please just remind me."

The breeze rustled through her hair in a comforting way. Freeing. She always had loved the feel of wind. Her smile got a bit braver.

"I love you. Next time I'll bring you some food…see you later."

The door to the flower shop chimed open and for a long tense minute, Ino and Sakura just stared at each other. Sakura took a deep breath.

"Pig…I liked Sasuke-kun since we were five, same as you…same as all the girls. I never said anything because I didn't want to lose you…and I didn't think I had a right to. You were always so bold and confident and pretty. You never hid your feelings at all. But I didn't think I was worthy of that. I was poor and grimy and weak…and you and the other girls were always dressed nice and clean and cute and better at practical shinobi skills…so I thought if Sasuke-kun was into anyone, it would be one of you. That he'd never feel that way about an urchin like me—"

"Don't you dare call yourself that!" Ino shouted fiercely.

"It's how I used to think, Pig." Sakura answered with a small smile. "Until recently, I used to think what I felt wasn't worth what others felt. That their feelings were worth more. That someone like me didn't have a right to feel the way I did…But mom, Sasuke-kun, Naruto, and you…You guys made me see that that wasn't the case. Sasuke-kun's done a lot for me, and I really love him. And so have you Ino-pig. And I really love you. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry that I said that and treated you like your feelings weren't worth mine. That what I felt was worth more than what you did. I never want to make anyone feel the way I did for so long…least of all you."

"It's alright Forehead, it'll take more than that to make me doubt my love for Sasuke-kun. But talk to me like that again and I swear I'll make you regret it!" She said with a haughty toss of her head, but her eyes softened as she glanced back at Sakura. "Really, it's alright. I'm just worried about you. You've been so irritable lately and you haven't been taking care of yourself. I know you're going through a lot, but that's all the more reason to take better care of yourself."

"I know. I'm sorry. I've been so angry all the time and I took it out on you, which wasn't fair."

"Seriously I get it. But if you want to make it up to me, start trying to take care of yourself a bit, okay? Enough with this whole rice balls and apples diet."

"Deal! How about we go out for dinner later! My treat."

"Huh?!" Sakura never made offers like that—she couldn't afford them. But by the warm smile her best friend was giving her, she was dead serious.

"We can invite Hinata-chan too! And go shopping after."

Ino blinked at her best friend in bewilderment.

"…Yeah…that sounds great, but…will you be ok? We can pay for ourselves…you don't have to…"

"I have a good amount of money between the beauty boutique and Ikehara's, and I haven't spent much of it because I've only been eating one meal of rice balls and apples a day—both of which are cheap. I can't do this all the time, but I don't have to be so strict with money now…I can afford it at least this once…and Ino-pig and Hinata-chan deserve it with what I've put them through these past two weeks…"

Sakura shook her head.

"It's alright! I've missed a lot of birthdays that I need to catch up on too, you know."

Ino gave a soft smile. "If you say so…I'll let Hinata-chan know. Meet you at the hospital?"

"Yeah. I'll see you later, pig."

"Later forehead!"

Sakura left the shop, the air around both girls markedly clearer.

Shopping and dinner with Ino and Hinata had been fun. She hadn't had that much fun since the last team bonding dinner at Ichiraku's…she certainly hadn't had any fun at all since her mother's death. It was a release she didn't even know she'd needed.

Ino and Hinata weren't the only friends she had to apologize to. The next day she voyaged out of the hospital to find Shikamaru. He was lying in his yard staring up at the clouds, much like the very first time they played shogi together.

Sakura sat quietly next to him, not wanting to bother him more when she was trying to apologize.

"Forest?" He asked after a long moment.

Sakura shook her head with a negative hum.

"I'm sorry I've been so irritable and short tempered lately."

Shikamaru gave an exasperated huff.

"Troublesome. You've been a real drag to be around the past few weeks, but isn't that to be expected?"

"That's not an excuse for being a jerk to your friends."

"Wanna tell that to Sasuke?"

"Watch it." Sakura growled. "Don't talk about Sasuke-kun like that!"

"What a drag." Shikamaru sighed. "You and Ino both. I can't say one thing against the guy."

"Then why bother trying?"

"Cause he annoys me."

"Fine. I guess he can be a little grumpy." Sakura allowed.

"A little?" Shikamaru questioned dryly.

"That's all you're getting." Because that's all there really was to it.

"He's a lonely introvert who isn't great with words so he has a hard time saying and explaining what he feels…He's guarded because of what happened to him so he has a lot of walls up, but if you get passed them, he's really kind, caring, and understanding…" At least, that's how he was to her.

Shikamaru snorted. She was acting like herself again, which was a relief. It had been a drag when she was all depressed and short tempered. Although he would have expected it to take longer for her to bounce back, if she bounced back at all…the only person he'd seen with that kind of emotional fortitude was Naruto. That kid could bounce back from anything and fairly quickly at that.

"Shogi?"

"It's been a while…you better not have forgotten how to play well."

"Guess we'll find out."

…She lost every round they played, but the games did last awhile.

"Come on, please! Don't you wanna know how fast you are without them?" Kiba whined.

It was her first time reaching out to him since the chunin exams. She didn't think she was in a place to spar with others safely right now. She still had too much aggression built up. But it had been a long time since she'd worked on her speed, and just running shouldn't be a problem. Maybe it'd even burn some aggression.

What she hadn't counted on was Kiba insisting she race him and Akamaru without her weights. Nor the competitive challenge in his eyes.

"I'm not allowed to take them off."

"Why not?"

"Kakashi-sensei's rules."

"He's not here right now." Kiba countered shamelessly, though when Sakura's face fell, he cleared his throat uncomfortably.

"Look, I just mean that he doesn't have to know. You should know how fast you are at your base."

"…He's got a point there…I took a huge risk taking them off against Dosu, not knowing if I really was fast enough to outrun his sound waves…technically I still don't know, since it wasn't so much running as outmaneuvering."

"Plus it's fun! We were totally flying, Shannaro!"

"I already told you, I'm not allowed to take them off!" She countered, frustrated that both her inner voice and conscious thought process were pushing her closer to caving.

"One time can't hurt!"

"Just once?" Kiba asked, voicing the same thought as her inner self, much to her dismay. Akamaru barked in agreement with his master.

"What if I just take off the leg weights?" She muttered, partially giving in.

"That should be fine right? I'd at least still have two on…"

"Any additional weight is gonna slow you down." Kiba countered annoyingly. "If you're gonna do it, do it fully."

She twitched. He had a point, but it was still frustrating.

"Fine. Only once, and you have to help me put them back on the minute we're done."

"Sure thing!" Kiba agreed, excited to race and see who was faster. "Since I'm joining too, instead of fetch, we're just gonna race. To that huge tree and back."

"Alright." Sakura said, closing her eyes and deactivating her weights in rapid succession. She, Kiba and Akamaru took their positions.

"Ready. Set. Go!"

All three took off. She sprinted as fast as she could, feeling like she was gliding with the weights off, it was like her feet barely touched the ground. She couldn't outrun a sound wave, and she wasn't on par with Lee or Sasuke, both of whom weren't even visible when running at their full speed, but she'd pulled well ahead of both Kiba and Akamaru, reaching the huge tree and starting the return trip at least a minute ahead of them.

It was almost like flying, moving so fast, and it only made her wish to go faster. It was so freeing, feeling the wind against her like this.

"If I keep running with the weights, I'll definitely get faster!"

She reached their finish line a good minute and a half before Kiba and Akamaru.

"We won! Suck it dog boy!"

"I want that gap to be even wider, shannaro!"

"Damn. You really are fast without those weights! Can't believe you beat us both that much…Lee and Sasuke would still wipe the floor with you though." Kiba panted with a cocky smirk.

"What do you look so cocky for! If they beat me that bad, what about you, huh?" She challenged, her arms crossing stubbornly, before she remembered she had to put her weights back on.

"So how do I do this?" Kiba asked, as she slipped on the cuffs.

"Hold two fingers in front of your face and two to the cuffs and focus some chakra into them. Doesn't have to be a lot, they'll activate pretty fast."

Kiba did as she instructed, and Sakura once again felt weighted down by double her body weight.

"Now for the real race."

"Nah. Now we're playing fetch. With the weights on, you're slower than me. It'll be better to just race Akamaru."

The little white dog barked and wagged his tail excitedly.

"Fine…" Sakura sighed.

"Back to playing doggy games?! How embarrassing!"

"It worked before…even if it is demeaning."

When Kiba threw the stick, Sakura didn't hesitate, though Akamaru was well ahead of her. It had been awhile since her last speed training with Kiba, and she'd fallen out of practice, plus the weights slowed her significantly. But that was why she was doing it after all.

By the time they called it quits for the day, Sakura was able to keep even with the edge of Akamaru's tail.

Sakura spent the next three weeks hanging out with Ino and Hinata, playing shogi with Shikamaru, racing Akamaru and Kiba, and perfecting her dancers barrage. Mornings, nights, and any time in between her socializing were spent in her teammate's hospital room, performing their physical therapy, feeding them her tonic, or studying up on poisons and antidotes while sitting at Sasuke's bedside.

The research was actually very interesting and made a lot of logical sense. Different regions had different climates and terrain, which changed the general composition of their poisons. The Hidden Rain Villages poisons were derived from different kinds of snake venom, especially rattlesnakes. Poisons from anywhere in the Country of Water were mainly constructed from poisonous and venomous fish like pufferfish, reef stonefish and stargazer. Common place poison for Suna came from scorpions, but Suna was known for their poisons and poison experts and the text warned that most Sunagakure poisons would be far more complex than mixes of scorpion venom.

Grouping them under categories of common ingredients like that made it easier to figure out generalized antidotes. It was simply a matter of finding what counteracted most of the chemical compounds in that grouping.

She already worked out the ingredients and ratios required for the generalized antidotes for each countries common poisons, though she had yet to mix any yet. She wanted to check her work with Ikehara first.

The amount of times a nurse walked in on her sitting on the floor in a split, surrounded by books and scrolls from the library, scribbling notes and calculations in a newly purchased notebook was frankly embarrassing…it wasn't so much that she had any shame about her study habits. This was how she'd always studied, done her homework, and made notes. But over the course of her stay in the hospital, she'd come to realize that apparently, most people sat at desks to study and take notes. And the nurses had given her more than a few strange looks as a result. It wasn't her fault…she'd never had a desk to study at.

Right now, she sat in the uncomfortable chair at Sasuke's bedside reading about different ways to extract poisons without antidotes, including both physical procedures and poultices that drew different kind of toxins out. She was having a hard time focusing though. Her gaze kept drifting to Sasuke. It had been five weeks since he and Kakashi had fallen into a coma. Her knuckles tightened on the book.

"Over a month already…Please…Tsunade-sama or not…please just wake up!"

"I'm comin' in."

The brash unknown voice made Sakura jolt in surprise, turning to the door. A beautiful blond woman, with her hair tied in two pig tails and a purple diamond mark on her forehead stood in the doorway. Behind her stood a woman with short dark hair holding a pig, Jiraya, and Naruto.

"…You're…"

"She's so beautiful…So this is Tsunade-sama…"

"Sakura-chan! Everything's okay now! Look who I brought!" Naruto shouted excitedly.

"Naruto…" Sakura smiled softly. She really had missed him…hearing him and his dopey laugh, she couldn't help but stand up to greet him, setting her book aside.

"You wouldn't believe it Sakura-chan! Finding Granny Tsunade here took forever! And then I had to make this bet with her—but she finally agreed to come back! And I trained so much a long the way—I got a lot stronger and I learned this super powerful new jutsu!" Naruto informed her excitedly, while she just smiled at him. She was only half listening, too busy caught up in how good it felt to hear his voice again, and scanning him for injuries, still not trusting that the Akastuki hadn't made another attempt at kidnapping him.

Tsunade paid no attention to the reunion. Instead her eyes had landed on the items on the nightstand. Weights, a bottle of something that didn't look like it came from the hospital, and an open note book which she could see was filled with calculations and notes about…common poisons and ingredients and ratio lists to counteract them. She glanced down at the book the girl had set down—a medical text about poison extraction procedures. That wasn't exactly light reading, certainly not what she'd expect from a thirteen year old girl.

"Tsunade-sama…" She turned to see the cute pink haired girl bowing. So she knew her. Not surprising given the girls choice of reading material. "Please…please help Sasuke-kun and Kakashi-sensei!"

Tsunade was a little taken aback by the look in the girl's eyes…concern, irritation, desperation and love. She'd seen that combination in her own eyes many times.

"Of course! Don't worry!" She answered with an easy smile.

She laid a hand on Sasuke's forehead, doing a brief scan of his condition with her chakra. Her brows furrowed. His muscle condition was far better than she would have expected for someone in a coma for five weeks. There was no trace of bed sores either. But more than that…his mind was surprisingly active. Almost normal really. It would take even less to wake him up than she'd been expecting after her briefing on the situation. His mind wouldn't be this active without some medical interference and treatment, but she'd been told that none of the hospital staff had administered any. Her tawny eyes fell on the bottle on the nightstand.

Tsunade pulled her hand away from Sasuke and picked up the bottle, giving it a sniff. A pungent, earthy, bitter smell met her nose.

Sakura watched with anxiety as Tsunade tasted a drop of liquid from the bottles edge.

"Oh no…I didn't make things worse did I? I can't have…I checked that tonic with the doctor—he said it wouldn't do any harm though it wouldn't help much…"

"What did you say your name was?" Tsunade's amber eyes bore into her own, increasing her anxiety.

"S-Sakura, Ma'am. Haruno Sakura."

"This tonic, did a medic prescribe this?"

"No Ma'am, I've been giving it to both Sasuke-kun and Kakashi-sensei."

"So you got it from the village apothecary?" This was a very specific mixture, and she couldn't fathom Ikehara selling something so specialized…a custom order would have been expensive too.

"No Ma'am, I made it myself…I…I didn't make things worse, did I?"

Tsunade watched the girl fidget uncomfortably, feeling a little baffled. This kid made such a specialized and effective tonic by herself?! That was wildly impressive…she didn't seem to have much self confidence though, but Tsunade supposed she could be rather intimidating, so maybe she shouldn't be so quick to judge the girl in that regard.

"Were you also the one attending to their muscle condition?"

"Yes. Muscle tone begins to weaken after two weeks, and I wasn't sure when you'd get here, so…"

"Not bad. You made my job and their lives much easier. It'll take me less effort than I expected." Konoha sure had some impressive genin in their ranks. First Naruto managing to master the rasengan in a week and severely injure Kabuto, now this girl managed to make a more effective treatment than the hospital staff.

Shizune's eyes widened at the compliment. She'd been with Tsunade a long time, trained under her…she knew Tsunade very well, and it took a lot to impress the woman. She rarely gave compliments and the way Tsunade was looking at this Sakura…she wouldn't be surprised if the Sanin actually asked to train her. And Tsunade never did that.

"Holy shit! We just got complimented by THE medical legend herself! We're the best, shannaro!"

"If I made her job easier, then that means she'll definitely be able to wake them both! Thank goodness!"

"By the way, your work is right." She said, with a nod to Sakura's open notebook.

"The Senju Tsunade just approved our work! Eeeeeeekkkkkkk!"

"…Saves me having to check it with Ikehara…I can't believe she's approving it…"

Tsunade placed her hand on Sasuke's forehead, a pale green glow engulfing it. Thanks to Sakura's tonic helping to stimulate brain activity, it hardly took her more than five seconds.

"He'll wake up soon." Tsunade said with a smile at Sakura, withdrawing her hand.

Sakura felt her eyes burn with tears. Relief. She felt so relieved.

Tsunade crossed to the other bed, a brief scan of Kakashi revealing that Sakura had taken care of him the same as she had Sasuke. She heard a shift in the bed behind her and knew that meant Sasuke had woken up.

Sasuke had been in total darkness. The last thing he remembered was being stuck in Itachi's tsukuyomi, watching the worst night of his life on repeat for 24 hours, and then there was a brief splash of Sakura's chakra and then nothing. In the nothingness, he'd heard brief clips of conversation, though they always sounded too far away for him to make out. There were several different voices over time. The only consistent ever present one that he could place was Sakura's, though he could never clearly tell what she was saying. The only distinct thing he could make out was his name. At one point, he thought he heard her crying, and he struggled to pull himself into consciousness, but he failed and her voice faded.

Sasuke felt a quick jolt, and suddenly he could hear more clearly.

"He'll wake up soon." He didn't recognize that voice. Older, feminine, on the deeper side, slightly raspy. No one he knew.

He began to process light behind his eyelids…it must be daytime. That or he was in a place that had the lights on. He was lying on a bed—definitely not his own, and given the circumstances of how he'd fallen into nothingness and the several different voices he'd heard over the course of time, it was a safe bet he was in the hospital. His eyes squinted closed tighter before they slowly opened, taking in the white ceiling. He slowly pushed himself up so he was sitting but almost immediately arms locked around him, hugging him tightly.

"Sasuke-kun…"

He could feel his shirt getting moist…Sakura was crying over him again. Just like in the Land of Waves. She was relieved he'd woken up, happy that he was alive and moving. It was jarring to go from watching everyone who cared for him brutally dying, to nothingness, to someone holding him close and weeping in relief. Why was it that whenever he was reminded of everything he lost, Sakura was there throwing her arms around him? Crying for him? Jumping in front of him? It made warmth shoot through him as well as confusion. Why did she care so much for him? What reason did she have?

He studied her soft pink hair, pressed against his cheek. His mouth opened, but no words came out. He never had been good with words…what had he hoped to say? To his surprise, he didn't want to tell her to get off. Didn't want to demand she let go. He didn't know if he was supposed to thank her or what he was supposed to thank her for. He never was one to give words of comfort…really why had he opened his mouth at all? He closed it quietly, without uttering a single sound, his eyes never straying from her.

"Sasuke…you…" Naruto trailed off. The look on the bastard's face…he'd never seen Sasuke look so softly at anyone before. It was the first time ever his face took no guess work to read. His normally closed off expression showed open confusion, care, and vulnerability. It was understandable. Sasuke was alone like him, and whether they admitted it or not, the only thing lonely boys wanted was to be loved. When someone loved and cared for them the way Sakura did, it was only a matter of time before the coldest heart would melt. Honestly, he was a little jealous, though not as much as he would have thought…Naruto had seen the way she smiled at him when she saw him. How she'd stood up and come closer to make sure he was okay. She'd been worried about him too. She cared about him deeply. Maybe it was different than the way she cared about Sasuke, but she cared none the less. And that was fine. Eventually he'd get stronger and prove he was better than the bastard, and then she'd fall for him. For now, just knowing that she cared enough about him to worry was okay with him, cause it was something he'd never had before. And right now, Sasuke needed this, so he'd leave them be.

Naruto turned around, drawing the curtain around the bed quietly, and slipped out of the room. Sasuke was a private person. If he was gonna hug Sakura back, it'd be when no one else could see…that territorial pervert. Whatever, now the the bastard was awake, he could stop worrying about him so much. Naruto took off down the hallway, intent on finding Iruka and telling his old teacher all about how he'd mastered a super powerful A-rank jutsu.

Tsunade was impressed. Naruto was more considerate than she thought…She looked back at Kakashi, waking him up with the same minimal effort it took her to wake up Sasuke. Kakashi sat up blearily.

"Gettin' beat by a couple of thugs. Guess you were human after all, and here I'd been under the impression you were a natural." Tsunade admonished.

Kakashi let out a long suffering sigh.

"You have some interesting students Kakashi. I want a full report on your team's genin. Strengths, weaknesses, experience, mission preparedness…"

"Report?"

"I am the Fifth Hokage, after all." She answered a cocky smile gracing her lips. If she wanted to keep this village safe until Naruto could become Hokage, then she had to know about those in her employ. Naruto was weird…he'd mastered the rasengan in only a week, but his showing in that in between time clearly indicated a lack of consistency in his ability. And that girl…she was highly interested in Haruno Sakura…She was kind of excited to go watch the chunin exam recordings. She wanted to see how well Naruto and Sakura faired.

"You and the boy are to stay the night for observation, but you should be able to go tomorrow morning."

The door slammed open, revealing a frantic Gai. "Forget him! Please take a look at my precious pupil, Lee!" Gai shouted.

"Alright, alright. No need to shout." Tsunade muttered, heading for the door, but not before taking one last glance at Sasuke's now curtained off bed. That girl…she couldn't explain it, but she felt a draw towards her, like she and Sakura were kindred spirits. It had to be that look in her eyes…Tsunade hadn't seen anyone with that combination of emotions swirling through their irises other than when she looked in the mirror. She'd have to check out Sakura's file…

Setting her thoughts aside, Tsunade exited the room, following Gai. She still had one more patient left to see.

When Gai had come bursting in, Sakura pulled away, and Sasuke immediately felt the absence of her weight against him. They didn't look at each other, both taking in the curtain surrounding the bed…neither had noticed when Naruto had pulled it closed.

Sakura wiped at her tears with the heel of her hand, and smile on her lips. Her teammates were awake again. They were alive, awake and safe. And her treatments had helped, even if it was only just a little. She even got verification that her antidote formulas were correct. All in all, she felt lighter than she had in months.

"You…what you said to him…you shouldn't have gotten involved." Sasuke murmured, his eyes trained on his fists clutching at his blanket. The moment Sakura started talking back to Itachi playing through his head. Did she even realize how much danger she'd put herself in? Who knew what he might do for that slight to his pride…what if Itachi now came after Sakura as well? What if he put her in the Tsukuyomi? What if Itachi got Naruto like he wanted, and took Sakura away from him too? What if he left him with no one again? It wasn't her problem. It had nothing to do with her. She shouldn't have gotten involved. It'd be safer for her if she wasn't. And…and he wasn't strong enough. The gap in their skills hadn't reduced at all. If Itachi decided to take everyone from him again, just like the first time, he'd be powerless to stop it. He wasn't strong enough to protect her. Not from Gaara, and definitely not from Itachi. His older brother needed to pay for what he did and be stopped from what he might do, but Sasuke still didn't have enough power needed to kill him.

"Mm. I was being reckless. I'm sorry Sasuke-kun, I was just so angry I couldn't hold it in anymore." She said, leaning back in the uncomfortable hospital chair and giving him a soft smile that made his muscles release their tension. "But I still stand by what I said to him. If he's going after Naruto, and after how much he's hurt you…that makes it my business. It's your fight, and that's fine. But please don't ask me to not be involved, angry, or worried. If it's about you, Naruto, or Kakashi-sensei, I can't not be."

How could someone care so much for others, to the point that it put them at risk? He knew why she was like this, but still—Why was she like this?! And as much as he wanted to tell her to butt out, he couldn't. Not when she worded it like that. Not when she cared about him so much…even though he knew he should, he didn't want to tell her to stop caring about him. He didn't want to tell her that it would only get her hurt. He didn't know what motivated her—whether it was just because he was her teammate, or if it was just because he was human, or if it was something more—but Sakura's genuine care for him meant more to him than he knew how to admit.

Now that Sakura wasn't weighed down by grief, loneliness, or anxiety, it was like her love for Sasuke dropped on her like a landslide. She acutely realized her proximity to him, how cute his bed ruffled hair was, and the fact that when she left this hospital chair, she'd be returning to his apartment. Unhelpfully, all the arousal simulations Kurenai ran her through from before the chunin exams were playing through her head on repeat, and it was causing her to nervously babble out total unimportant nonsense.

"I really was angry that day…every inn keeper I checked with while looking for you kept thinking I was there to be a prostitute. It was infuriating."

"What the hell am I saying?! Why am I even talking about this, damnit?!"

Sasuke hadn't paid much attention to the area they'd been in. They'd received brief sex-ed lessons in the academy, and he knew Kakashi was always reading porn. Naruto's sexy jutsu never really had much of an effect on him though logically and aesthetically he understood what was going on and why others might fall for it—it just failed to stir anything in him. The idea of people thinking about Sakura in such a dirty low minded way irked him to no end though.

"I've been angry a lot recently—well, I thought it was recent, but it turns out I've kinda just been that way my whole life." She said scratching the back of her head in embarrassment. "I, uh…I think I've gotten a bit better of a handle on it though…I think. I hope. I think. So, uh, I'll try not to do anything too reckless."

"Hn…"

"Sakura, for the love of god, please shut up!"

"K-Kakashi-sensei! Thank goodness you're awake! How are you feeling?" Sakura latched on to the only out she could come up with, throwing open the curtain to check on her sensei.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow blandly. That had been a less than smooth handling of the situation. Her feelings were so obvious it was amazing Sasuke still didn't get it. In Sasuke's defense, she'd never explicitly told him, which was a change from all his fangirls, but still…team 7 really was uncomfortably similar to his old team. Sasuke was just like him. He'd been completely blind to Rin's feelings for him until she'd confessed them openly…and then it had been too late. He sincerely hoped Sasuke proved smarter than he had been. And really what was Sakura thinking? That had been the perfect moment to confess…

"I'm fine now, Sakura. So you were there too, huh?" He'd heard their conversation after all, they'd only been separated by a curtain. More importantly, had Itachi gotten her with that tsukuyomi? Before he could even ask, Sakura beat him to it.

"I know what you're about to say. Here." She said, placing her journal on Kakashi's lap. She'd taken what Ino said to heart and now kept it on her person at all times. "Whatever he used on you two, he used on me as well…or at least attempted to. He didn't get very far. My curse triggered and broke the genjutsu before too much could happen."

Sasuke's eyes shot to her intensely. She'd actually broken out of the tsukuyomi—the unbeatable genjutsu?! More importantly, the worst had happened and Itachi had used it on her. It may not have lasted long, but whatever he put her through was enough to set off her curse, which only triggered due to extreme emotions, and Sakura had plenty nightmares in her life for Itachi to choose from…again his brother had hurt someone precious to him. Hatred roiled in the pit of his stomach. He needed more power! He needed to kill—

"Rage triggered it?" Kakashi stared down at the entry in confusion. He would have thought it'd be fear or pain…

"I was angry that day and having him in my head pawing through my private thoughts pissed me off." She said with an easy shrug. "The aftermath of that attack sucked but it did help me pinpoint the next steps in training control, as well as a potential new way to handle it so…"

"I really do need to start that training soon…"

"Aw man! we don't wanna!"

"Tough. It's that or die."

Sasuke's brow furrowed. In his head, he hadn't imagined a single situation where Sakura got placed in the Tsukuyomi and didn't end up completely traumatized. It wasn't inconceivable that the tsukuyomi would trigger her kekkei genkai but like Kakashi, he would have thought fear would be the trigger.

"It physically effected you this time." Kakashi said severely, studying the detailed entry she made. If it had a physical effect on her this time, who was to say the next time wouldn't be the one that ended her life…Once again Kakashi wondered if he was doing the right thing letting her continue on this path.

Sakura shifted her weight uncomfortably, guessing at the route her teacher's mind had taken.

"I'll control it, I swear. I'll figure it out, just…please. Please don't kick me off this team…"

He knew he couldn't do that. He knew what this team meant to her, and especially now that her mother was gone he really couldn't bring himself to tell her to quit. Besides, he had an impossibly hard time saying no to her.

"I won't…this is your choice Sakura, so you have to take responsibility for it." Even as he said it, he knew if anything happened to her, he'd be blaming himself entirely, just like with Rin…He really hoped Sasuke didn't make the same mistakes he did.

"I understand…" Sakura took her journal back, seeking to change the subject. "You'll both be released tomorrow morning…your muscle condition shouldn't be too bad, but you are going to have to start off a bit easier on your training…anyways, there are some things I need to work on for Ikehara, so I'll be back later, okay?"

With that Sakura collected her books and notes and walked out the door, leaving the two males in a surprised silence by the abrupt departure.

While Sakura had returned later that day, and stayed in the chair by Sasuke's bedside throughout the night, she was shockingly not there when he and Kakashi were officially discharged.

Immediately Sasuke went off to train. He needed more power, and Sakura had said that he'd be a little out of shape because of his time in a coma, which meant he had to at least get back to the level he was at as soon as possible…and then he needed to surpass that. By a lot.

So when Sasuke arrived back at his apartment, tired and hungry, he was struck dumb by the unexpected sight of Sakura in his kitchen and the smell of food filling the air. He'd forgotten she was staying there.

Sakura turned to him and smiled warmly.

"Welcome home, Sasuke-kun! I figured you'd be hungry so I made dinner…"

A flood of warmth rushed through him as he stood frozen in the doorway of his own home. No one had cooked dinner specially for him since his mother (fangirls made him bentos but that didn't count—they were only doing it cause they wanted something from him). Nobody had welcomed him home since his family was living. He knew the etiquette on this one. Knew he should say the words, "I'm home," or at the very least thank her, but he couldn't seem to get his voice to work. Was he home? He'd never thought of his apartment as home before, though it certainly felt more like it was now then it had in the past. And for some reason, despite the gratitude he felt, it was so tinged with the bitter memories of his lost family that he couldn't bring himself to express it. If he tried, it'd probably come out biting and sarcastic, which he definitely didn't want.

Too overwhelmed by the contradicting rush of warmth, sadness, gratitude, and bitterness, Sasuke settled for a numb nod, before heading to the bathroom to quickly wash up.

Sakura was a good cook, though she only knew how to make a limited number of dishes, all of which were rather simplistic. She'd been cooking for both herself and her mother for a long time, though due to lack of time and limited access to ingredients, she'd never learned how to make anything complicated or fancy. Her dishes also tended to be made with health in mind, adding herbs and spices partially for taste but more for nutritional value. Still, her cooking wasn't bad…actually it was quite good. And Sasuke tended to prefer simpler foods anyways, so the meal she made was more than satisfying to him. He didn't say anything, only eating silently, but Sakura decided to interpret the fact that he kept eating it and even went in for seconds as a good sign.

"Sasuke-kun's eating our cooking! This is so romantic! A total newlywed situation! Eeeek!"

"Aren't you getting carried away? He's probably just eating it cause it'd be a waste not to. Besides, he never said he likes it…"

That didn't stop her face from flushing and finding herself unable to make eye contact.

Sasuke was too caught up in his head and his mess of contradicting feelings to trust himself to say anything. He retreated to his room as soon as he'd cleaned his plate, and plopped onto his bed, taking the paper crane from his nightstand and falling back on his habit of studying it intently. His mind filled with desire for the strange warmth he felt with Sakura, the carefree feeling he sometimes had with Naruto, longing for his lost family, hatred towards Itachi, and endless frustration at how weak he was…how Naruto kept besting him…No matter how much he trained here, he didn't seem to be getting any stronger. Not like he was when he tapped into the curse mark…but the image of Sakura crying, afraid of him was burned into his memory. He didn't want her to be afraid of him…he didn't want to leave the life he had with Sakura, Naruto, and Kakashi. But he wasn't getting any more powerful here. And he couldn't let Itachi get away with his crimes, be them past or future…He couldn't figure out what he was supposed to do.

A week later, Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura stood in the briefing room, waiting to receive their mission assignment.

"Alright! A Mission! Let's do this! It's been boring around here!" Naruto shouted in excitement. The only interesting thing to happen over that passed week was their team's self imposed mission to find out what Kakashi was hiding under his mask. Blimp lips, or buckteeth, or maybe a really tiny mouth...their imaginations were running wild and they'd just had to know. Frustratingly, everything they tried was a failure. Whenever they tried to buy him food, somehow they were always interrupted right as he was about to take it off. Shadowing him hadn't worked either. They'd even stolen some random ninja trio's clothes from a mission to help out on a farm in a bid to take the mask off by force, and that had been a total failure. They were out of ideas, but a real mission would definitely help get the creative juices flowing again. Or maybe an opportunity would present itself during the mission.

Sasuke just closed his eyes and sighed…it's not like he disagreed with Naruto, but why'd he have to be so loud about it?

Sakura looked around, her brow furrowing in confusion.

"But Kakashi-sensei isn't here."

"Is he late as usual?" Naruto asked, flatly.

"No, Kakashi won't be coming." Tsunade answered, entering the room, her attendant Shizune behind her.

"Grandma Tsunade!"

"Don't call me grandma." She answered dismissively, taking a seat at the desk in front of them.

"Sorry about him, Hokage-sama." Sakura cut in quickly shooting a brief glare at Naruto. Tsunade was the last person who needed anyone defending her in any way, but Sakura couldn't help it. The respect she felt for this woman was too great, after all, Tsunade was the one who'd healed Sakura's precious teammates.

Tsunade regarded Sakura with interest, and when the green eyed girl returned her gaze to her Hokage, she felt herself falter under the older woman's intense scrutiny.

"W-What do you mean Kakashi-sensei won't be coming?" She finally managed to ask.

"As you three already know, most of the Jonin, including Kakashi, are on different missions. This time, the three of you will have to execute the mission by yourselves. This is a B-rank escort mission, escorting an important figure!"

"Important figure…?" Sakura murmured curiously.

"Of course, depending on the situation, this mission has the possibility of becoming an A-rank." Tsunade continued, glancing over the mission request.

There was a long pause, while the three waited for her to continue, but when she didn't, Sasuke broke the silence.

"And? Who are we protecting?"

"Don't know."

"What do you mean, 'don't know'?!" Naruto demanded.

"In the neighboring nation of the Land of Tea, they have a Dedication Ceremony at the Great Todoroki Shrine once every four years. We've received a request to escort their runner who will be participating in the race. But an assailant from the opponent's side attacked the messengers before they arrived here."

"Assailant?" That meant that they'd definitely be facing enemies this mission, which meant an opportunity to put his new rasengan to use!

"This mission seems to be lacking some details…" Sakura murmured.

"That it does." Tsunade agreed. "You should get the details directly from Boss Jirocho."

"Boss Jirocho?! Oh yeah! That boss from that time!" Naruto shouted, recalling the gang they'd encountered on his trip back to Konoha with Tsunade, Shizune, and Jiraya.

"That's the one." Tsunade said, standing up. "Now that you three understand, depart immediately! Get to the Land of Tea by today. Get going!" She snapped. She'd never been a particularly patient person.

Team 7 gave their affirmatives, running out the door.

"Sakura!" Tsunade called.

Sakura stopped and turned to face the legendary Hokage.

"Yes Ma'am?"

"The bird that brought the request to us also brought a poison coated needle with it."

"Poison?" Sakura's brows drew together in thought.

"If the enemy's fighting like that, this is almost sure to become an A-rank…"

"Was there an analysis done on the poison?"

Tsunade studied the girl in front of her, internally impressed. She'd kept her cool and asked the right questions in response to the information given. Although, after watching the recording of the girl's chunin exam match, she really shouldn't be so surprised.

"Yes. Its a mix of rattlesnake venom and juice from some poisonous berries."

Sakura's eyes widened, her mine immediately calling up the research she'd done for Ikehara.

"That's the ingredient pool for common poisons utilized in Amegakure."

"That's correct." Tsunade smirked. "Did you ever make those antidotes?"

"Yes. Ikehara-san and I tested them and they worked."

"Ikehara, huh?"

"Yes Ma'am. He was the one that commissioned them."

"Commissioned? So you sold them to him?"

Sakura's eyes widened. "Oh gods, that's not illegal is it?"

Tsunade actually laughed. "Not technically. I got nothin against hustling for cash." Her tone grew serious again. "Did you sell them all?"

"No I still have some."

"Good. Bring them. Now get going."

Sakura nodded and took off.

Author's notes: Eh, I'll be honest, this isn't my favorite chapter...Ok so I'm including the Land of Tea filler arc for a couple of reasons. The biggest is that it's the best thing Studio Perriot ever did for genin Sakura, imo. It's one of the only times they let her be useful and honestly that mission succeeds largely because of her, since she was the first one Idate started trusting. So I wanted to include it. I also wanted to give Team 7 just a bit more time together before Sasuke leaves. I want to build this so that he wouldn't even consider it at first. But after not being able to help against Gaara and not being able to save Sakura there's a shift in him that makes him darker. Sakura and Naruto keep actively combating it, so he still doesn't really consider it, then he encounters Itachi and now he's thinking about it but conflicted. So I think he needs this mission, which is assigned as a B-rank, to fail in the face of an enemy who shouldn't be that powerful where Naruto succeeds to really drive it home for him that Naruto's surpassing him, which causes the boil over on the hospital roof and ends up setting him on the path to leaving. Aside from that, I always had an issue with the time line, because Kakashi and Sasuke are in the hospital at the same time for the same reason but when Sasuke and Naruto face off on the hospital roof and Kakashi intercepts them, he's in his full Ninja uniform, so he was released but Sasuke wasn't? To me the Land of Tea mission fixes that problem.

In case it hasn't been obvious I've been working off of Sakura's assessment of Naruto's crush on her as being another form of rivalry in The Last. There were a lot of things that movie got wrong, like removing Naruto's emotional intelligence, claiming he doesn't know the difference between love for a kind of food and love for a person. That's bullshit. I do think that Naruto's crush on Sakura may have been another form of competition with Sasuke though. I think Naruto grows to love her like family, but even an emotionally intelligent person might confuse that kind of love with romantic love, especially if they're like Naruto, who's never had a family in the first place. I feel like Naruto loves Sakura like a sister, but confuses that with romantic love, because he does think she's pretty and isn't fully aware of the difference between the two. So I'm trying to play up the crush as a form of rivalry while slowly building Hinata into his awareness as someone who means a lot to him (romantically) even if he doesn't fully understand that yet.
Other note. I've been treating ryo as equivalent to the worth of USD. I know they're not. I only recently found a translator's note with the conversion, but I'm too lazy to change it and too bad at math to make the calculations, so oh well.

Thank you so much everyone for your interest in this story! Please keep the reviews coming because they keep me writing!

Thanks for reading this far! :)