A/N - I really want to thank ayuzashin51 for their comment. It's not rude at all, in fact it helped me push through and write further chapters, even though I took a really long time to continue. So I give you this for now and hope that you're not too disappointed in me, but thanks a lot :)

I completely flopped my promise to post once a week like I said in previous chaps lol. Sorry.

CHAPTER 9 - However

It's in the human nature to run away.

The fear of failure, of admitting, is gut-wrenching.

Rare are the people who can overcome it.

However.

It's not an excuse for your mistakes.

It's not an escape route.

"Honey?"

It's a one way gate to hell.

"Honey!"

A hell from which you never get out.

"…buki!"

A hell in which you rot to your death.

"Mebuki!!"

Haruno Mebuki violently started.

"Honey, I don't think I can do this."

She blinked in confusion, staring at her whining husband, unable to grasp what he was grumbling.

"…stuck, and I can't get out…"

A vague uneasiness took over her senses.

"Fucking hell."

"NO!"

The woods went completely silent at Mebuki's shriek. She had desperately bolted behind a tree, shaking from head to toe, her breathing uneven and rasped.

Kizashi couldn't believe his eyes. His ever-fierce wife was trembling. Moreover, she was trembling because of him. She never flinched in front of the enemy. Why now ? Why him ?

Bewildered, he didn't hesitate long before asking her. "H-Honey, what's wrong? I… I'm just stuck in mud, and I wanted your help… what's wrong?"

Carefully peeking at her shocked husband from behind the trunk, the woman immediately came to her senses a second later, stupefied at her own actions.

She hadn't realised she was crying until a sniffle tingled her nose. Scoffing, Mebuki composed herself, faking arrogance as she stomped towards the helpless man and brutally pulled on Kizashi's leg, freeing it from the mud.

"Let's go. We're going to be late."

She nonchalantly pretended nothing had happened, regaining her scornful attitude quickly. Lifting her pack from where she had dropped it, the woman settled it on her back and jumped off onto the tree branches, not waiting to hear the rustling of leaves indicating her husband was following her.

BANG

"This is useless! We've been at it for hours and we still haven't progressed."

The metallic cupboard was deformed where Naruto had thumped it. His patience was running thin and not even ramen could relieve the growing stress he felt upon meeting a dead end again.

They'd relentlessly examined all the possibilities as to why Sakura had selected these particular memories in response to Tsunade's idea. It just didn't make sense. They had nothing to do with her attack in a takeaway restaurant, or any form of poisoning whatsoever.

"Please don't destroy the furniture…", Tsunade yawned. She hadn't gotten much sleep in the last fifteen hours, let alone a lunch break, since finding a remedy for Sakura had been her top priority. But now she was feeling really tired, and the dining table seemed like quite a nice place to nap on.

"Why are we even here?!"

Naruto was getting more and more fidgety by the minute. If Tsunade didn't do something fast, the boy would lose his mind. Groaning in exasperation, she barely managed to not drawl the words as she answered him.

"Since someone's brilliant idea didn't work, we decided to both go to Sakura's place to find clues about the whole situation…"

"It was your idea granny." Naruto wasn't having it.

"Anyway, why didn't I go with Sasuke and Kakashi? They're interrogating some ANBUs, I would be more useful there. Or even with Hizoshi helping the doctors!"

Tsunade was indeed regretting letting Naruto tag along. His only purpose was to irritate her.

Just as she was about to punch him (with all the strength a half-sleeping Hokage could muster), the front door flew open and two hunched figures stepped in, looking almost as exhausted as Tsunade.

"Nothing?"

Both Kakashi and Sasuke shook their heads, slumping on nearby chairs. One look at their teammates confirmed the fear silently lurking in the back of their minds. They hadn't found anything either.

Naruto's nervous energy doubled. He was unconsciously bouncing his leg for a few minutes until the silence became too overbearing and he shot up, shouting in frustration. "Aww seriously, why can't we get, I don't know, the singlest, tiniest, unexpectedest clue?!"

Sasuke was giving up on correcting the blond loudmouth when his eyes drifted to a framed picture sitting on the table. Team 7, in their Genin days, posing in all their glory. Except Sakura was the only one happily smiling, a wide, sweet grin that had become so hard to bring back in their later years. A pang of nostalgia squeezed Sasuke's heart and he felt the urge to look away. That's when he noticed a smaller, older frame lying beneath the first one, hidden in its shadow.

Curiosity -although Sasuke would never admit it- took the better of him and he picked it up, turning it upwards. Safely tucked inside was a faded picture of Sakura and her parents, looking all giggly and perfectly normal. Seeing them in such a cheerful atmosphere contrasted with the violent memories of them Sasuke had witnessed.

Wait. Memories of…

Sasuke suddenly sat straight, the frame slipping from his grasp and lightly hitting the table, catching everyone's attention.

"That's it."

He wasn't aware of the weird looks his surprising outburst was getting.

"Tsunade, it worked. Sakura got your question."

Sasuke seemed almost excited about his discovery. He was putting in much more energy into explaining his reasoning than into any conversation he ever had.

Sasuke had a goal.

"We didn't watch those last memories for nothing. There's a pattern in them : how she gets hurt. By her parents."

Realisation hit the worn out shinobis like a train at full speed as Sasuke completed his thought.

"She's sending a message."

If there was one place where Sasuke was most feared, it was the interrogation department.

Not during missions. Not on the training grounds. Not bedridden in the hospital (he'd run off most of the time anyway).

But in the interrogation department.

He'd stalk the corridors angrily, sometimes dragging his "patients" along by the hair, as he had started calling them to tease Sakura, or wiping the blood off his Kusanagi with a deadly calm aura.

The poor ANBUs would all move aside and try to merge into the walls as the tall figure coldly loomed past them, some even silently writing their will.

Sasuke was always scary, but in those chilly hallways, he was absolutely terrifying.

Today was no exception.

The Uchiha had one mission, and he was going to carry it thoroughly, no matter who or what stood in his path.

Even if it meant hunting Sakura's parents… to death.

Sasuke had a goal.

"U-Uchiha-san, all locations have been pinpointed, the tracking team approv-"

"Give me the exact one."

The poor shinobi jumped slightly. "The exact… what?"

Sasuke's face twitched as he absentmindedly snatched the paper out of the assistant's hands, not sparing him a glance. "Get out of my way."

Sasuke had a goal.

Frowning, the Sharingan wielder crumpled the sheet with his fist, draping his cloak over his shoulders and putting a glove on. His sword was sharpened.

The Land of Tea was further away than he thought they had gone off, but Sasuke would reach them in no time.

Sasuke had a goal, and it was to get Mebuki's head.

The hospital's research wing was bustling with activity. All off-duty medics had been requisitioned to set up the laboratory for Sasuke's return. Tsunade was red in the face from the amount of blood pumping fast in her veins, her authoritative figure ordering the staff around to make sure every single utensil in the building was at their disposition when they would start making the antidote. She had no idea which ones were necessary, so she requested them all.

The Hokage had dispatched a jonin team to help Sasuke seize the Haruno couple, although it was mainly to make sure he didn't torment them too much. Tsunade knew that letting the raven-haired man go was definitely not the wisest decision, but she had enough resentment towards Sakura's parents to wish them a nice little chat with an angry Uchiha.

She had sent Naruto and Kakashi off with Hizoshi to the town in Sound where the attack had supposedly occured, more to get them some fresh air rather than in hope of finding anything. They were ordered to be on standby in case she or Sasuke called for them.

Sakura was cold.

Tired of seeing her life unfold as if it was some bad movie that never found its end.

What really shattered her heart wasn't reliving moments that sometimes left scars she tried her best to cover, but having her teammates there, watching every single second of it all, taking in those ugly scars on display.

Sakura loved her scars, her battle trophies, her work of art. But those marks left on her soul were anything except proud wounds.

She had sworn she would protect Naruto and Sasuke ever since she started training under the Godaime, and here she was, back to her pathetic old self.

Crumbling into weakness, bare for everyone to see.