Special thanks to my Beta-reader: GreyHowler
Enjoy:
Sasuke and Sakura walked through the destroyed hideout. Finally, Sasuke led her into a room she had seen before. As they entered, Sakura saw that the room was softly lit by a blue glow. The source of the glow was the liquid inside of a large glass tank placed in the middle of the room. The liquid was too thick for Sakura to see what was inside of the tank, but she could guess. Her hand clenched into a tight fist as she began to imagine the experiments Kabuto and Orochimaru had performed on the person who was the most probable occupant of the tank.
Sasuke walked up to the glass, took his sword and lashed the glass. He stepped back as the liquid poured out of the tube. Sakura walked up to Sasuke, looked at the pool at her feet and said;
"Suigetsu, wake up. Quit playing dead."
The water in the pool rippled and slowly took the shape of a man. The man stretched and said;
"I'm finally out. Thanks, Sasuke," Suigetsu paused and looked at Sakura, "Sakura...miss me?" Suigetsu asked. Sakura immediately turned away with a blush on her face.
"Put some damn clothes on! We are here to talk to you." she yelled.
"If you guys are here...Then you defeated Orochimaru, Sasuke." said Suigetsu, ignoring Sakura.
"Suigetsu, you're first. Come with us…" said Sasuke.
"I'm first? What about the others?" he asked.
"Karin and Jugo." Sasuke answered.
"Do we have to? I don't like Karin." Suigetsu complained.
"Karin can find out where Itachi is." Sasuke replied.
"'I just need the four of you to cooperate. You don't have to like each other,'" Sakura lowered her voice in an imitation of Sasuke, "That's what you said, right, Sasuke?"
Suigetsu opened his mouth to continue complaining, but shut it again, when he saw Sakura shaking her head; it was no use.
"Fine, but I have a condition," said Suigetsu, crossing his arm, "I heard rumors that you were the one who defeated my old Senpai Momochi Zabuza. I want his sword. I'll only join you when I have that sword."
"Fine, let's go." Sasuke agreed.
"For the last time. Put some damn clothes on!" Sakura yelled and stormed out of the hideout.
xXx
One by one they leaped into the trees and took off in the direction of the Land Of Waves where Haku and Zabuza were buried. Three hours later, Sasuke and Sakura stopped at the front gate of the bridge.
"The Great Naruto Bridge, huh" Sakura whispered and walked across while reminiscing about the bridge's history.
Sasuke, Sakura and Suigetsu were walking down the path, when a boy ran around a corner and bumped into them. The boy blinked a few times before saying anything;
"Is that you, Sakura?" he asked.
Recognizing this voice, Sakura stared harder at the boy and realized that the pre-teen in front of them was Inari. Inari began chattering at them, telling how happy he was to see Sakura and Sasuke again and commenting on Sakura's appearance, calling her beautiful.
"Oh, thank you, Inari." she said, blushing.
"Where is Naruto?" Inari asked, having not yet been aware of their defection.
Sasuke stared at Sakura, who stayed quiet for a moment, trying to think of something to tell him. With a forced smile, Sakura told Inari that they and Naruto had had a fight and that he was ordered to stay in the village to cool off, while she and Sasuke went on a mission. Satisfied with her explanation, Inari soon left and the trio continued down the path.
"That was a good lie." said Suigetsu.
"Hn, he'll blab to someone sooner or later." said Sasuke.
"Yeah, but it could be awhile before then," Sakura answered and looked around before she continued, "I'll wait outside the village for you guys. My pink hair draws too much attention."
Sasuke and Suigetsu continued further toward the cliff where Haku and Zabuza were buried while Sakura searched for someplace to wait for them. The sword had been left sticking out of the ground at the head of the graves.
Suigetsu wasted no time in pulling the sword out and giving it an experimental wave. He grinned as he realized this was the sword he was looking for and turned around to head back down the mountain with Sasuke.
xXx
Sakura sat on a tree branch, waiting for Sasuke and Suigetsu to return. She was quite happy to see Inari. With how tall he had become, she almost didn't recognized him. She was also happy with how beautiful the village had become. No one was scared or depressed now and the village was quite different from when she first came here with Team Seven.
Sasuke and Suigetsu arrived only a few minutes after Sakura sat down in the tree.
"We're back," said Suigetsu, "So we find Karin next?"
Sakura and Suigetsu both sighed when Sasuke nodded and headed towards the southern hideout. They traveled about four hours until it began to get dark. Then set up a camp. Suigetsu went to find some water and food, while Sakura searched for a few bundles of wood and Sasuke sat and waited.
"How have you been since the last time I saw you?" Suigetsu asked. Sakura however, shook it off, pretending she didn't know what he was talking about.
"You know", Suigetsu continued, "A few months ago. You came by with Kabuto. You fainted when he injected you with something."
"Shut up!" Sakura yelled with annoyed exasperation and walked back to the camp with her bundles of wood.
After a few minutes, Suigetsu also walked back to the camp with food and water for everyone. Silence fell over the group as Sasuke was naturally quiet and Sakura didn't feel like saying anything to anyone. Sakura soon lay down and stared at the stars for a while before she fell asleep. Suigetsu sighed and stared at the fire
"I'm going to miss this peace and quiet…" he complained.
The next day
They reached the base within a few hours. When they walked inside, they noticed Karin was waiting for them.
"I knew it," said Karin, "You're alone. That means, the rumors are true. Orochimaru is dead."
"We're here too, you know." said Suigetsu.
"What are THEY doing here, Sasuke-kun" Karin asked while pointing at Suigetsu and giving Sakura a death glare.
"I'm forming a team to go after my brother and I want you to be part of it." Sasuke replied.
"I'm flattered you need me, but why are they-"
"You know what?!" Sakura cut Karin off, "Sasuke, do what you must do. You want her that bad, go ahead and try to convince her. In the meantime, I have something better to do. Come with me, Suigetsu."
"Where are you goi-"
"None of your damn business" Sakura cut Karin off once again and walked away. Suigetsu followed her, and Sasuke just stared at her back.
xXx
Sakura walked down the hall a little way and entered one of the doors. Suigetsu followed and stopped in the doorway when he saw several jail cells full of people. They let out cried of joy when they saw Sakura;
"You're here!" said one of them.
"I promised you, I would get you out." said Sakura. The cells were locked with the key nowhere in sight, but that didn't stop Sakura. Truthfully, she was glad because she could use this as a way to vent her anger. She order everyone to back away from the doors and, one by one, kicked each one down.
"Don't make Sakura mad. You will regret it" said Suigetsu as he watched Sakura breaking the cells open. When everyone was out, Suigetsu ordered them to spread the rumor that Sasuke had killed Orochimaru as a favor of freeing them.
When all the prisoners had left, Sakura and Suigetsu began scouting out the hideout.
"You promised them?" Suigetsu asked out of curiosity.
"I went to Orochimaru with Sasuke for power, but that doesn't mean I liked him. I hated that snake bastard and his experiments on people." Sakura explained.
Suigetsu nodded and they continued through the hideout in silence, searching for Sasuke and Karin. Finally they came to a door behind which they heard voices, but it was locked from the inside
"Ugly is planning something" said Suigetsu. This made Sakura's mood even worse.
xXx
With Karin and Sasuke
Karin dragged Sasuke to a couch and sat with him.
"So, Sasuke-kun. Why do you want me to join?" Karin asked while she took off her glasses and placed on the table.
"I need you to find Itachi for me, so I can get my revenge" he answered blandly.
"I'll join you...but is that all you need me to do. Don't you want something else?" Karin started moving closer to Sasuke.
"Get off me now, Karin." Sasuke demanded.
"Why?" Karin asked and moved even closer to him, wrapping her arms around his neck.
He sighed when the door suddenly flew past Sasuke's face. Karin was shocked, but Sasuke, however was, unamused. Sakura was standing in the gap and looked angrier than before. She glared at Karin, who immediately jumped off the couch while Sasuke smirked.
"I told you to get off." said Sasuke.
"W-what?! Why do you even need me?!" Karin looked at Sasuke.
"I also want to know the reason," Sakura mumbled and looked at Sasuke, "Can we just leave already? I have already released the prisoners and clearly Karin doesn't want to join us."
"You did what!? You can't just-"
"I can release the prisoner and I just did." Sakura cut Karin off and gave her another death glare.
"Sakura, you guys working together will make it faster and easier to find Itachi. And Karin agreed to join us." Sasuke replied.
"Great….she's joining…" Suigetsu sighed.
They walked out of the hideout and began their journey to the next hideout to recruit Jugo. The whole way, Suigetsu and Karin kept bickering with each other. Sakura looked at them and shout at them to shut up. They would immediately quiet down, at least while Sakura was still glaring at them. They reminded her of how Sasuke and Naruto fought before Sasuke changed and left the village.
They traveled for about four hours until it got dark and then started to set up camp. Suigetsu and Sakura left to find some water, food and Karin stayed behind with Sasuke, looking for every moment to flirt with him without Sakura or Suigetsu around.
xXx
With Sakura and Suigetsu;
"Back there, you told me, you hated Orochimaru. Why?" Suigetsu asked.
"Why did I tell you or why do I hate Orochimaru? Asked Sakura, trying to lighten the mood a little. It didn't work; Suigetsu just glared at her.
She sighed and answered; "I didn't join Orochimaru just to gain power, I joined for Sasuke. I never wanted to leave the village; or betray my friends, Lady Tsunade and my family. I actually never wanted Sasuke to leave in the first place, but nothing I did or said changed his mind. He was still determined to join Orochimaru in order to gain power to achieve his goal." Sakura started to explain. She stared up at the sky as she continued;
"In fact, Sasuke thought I was annoying, maybe he still does. He hated me back then, but when I think about how naïve and stupid I used to be, I also hate myself. I only thought about Sasuke and how to impress him."
Suigetsu stared at her. He didn't know what to say. He wanted to ask how she was able to join Sasuke, but she had already guessed that he would and continued;
"I didn't want to lose him. Staying close to him might help me change his mind, or prevent him for walking to an even darker path. Gaining more power would also help me stop him from doing something he would regret.
So….I decided to join the one person I hated the most. The one person who's fault it was for Sasuke leaving the village. When they asked me why I wanted to come with them, I told them only the second reason; that I wanted more power. If I told them the whole truth, Sasuke would have hated me even more for thinking he was just a child that I needed to protect and Orochimaru would have killed me to keep Sasuke in his clutches."
"Orochimaru wanted to take Sasuke's body" said Suigetsu.
"I was hoping Sasuke would do something about it. I mean, he wants to have his revenge. How was he going to do that if he dies? But after he killed Orochimaru, I thought to myself, maybe he'll go back to the village…...I thought wrong. But no matter what, I'll stay by his side. I promised that to him and to myself."
"Why would you do all that just for him? Betray your village, your friends and even your family?" Suigetsu asked.
"I love him, Suigetsu," Sakura stared hard at Suigetsu and continued, "Yes, it might sound stupid, but it's true; I love him."
"But Sasuke is only thinking about revenge, not you." Suigetsu replied.
"I know and I'll wait for him. No matter what he did or what he'll do, I'll always love him. Even if I have to suffer, my love for him will never change." said Sakura.
"Do you regret betraying your village?" Suigetsu asked.
"At first, yes…but not anymore," She started to walk back to the camp, but stopped for a moment and said; "Don't mention any of this to Sasuke. And this is the first and last time I'll talk about my feelings!"
Before arriving at the camp, Sakura took a deep breath. She mustn't be emotional around Sasuke. He was finally acting less coldly towards her and she would like to keep it that way.
xXx
When she arrived, Sakura saw Sasuke was impatiently waiting for them to return. From the looks of it, Karin had taken advantage of being alone with Sasuke and kept bugging him. Clearly Sasuke was annoyed by it.
"You're late..." said Sasuke as he stood up and jumped to a tree branch to get some rest from Karin and her annoying flirting.
"Yeah, I was lazy." Suigetsu shrugged.
"Like always." Karin replied.
"Hm." Suigetsu wasn't in the mood for her, so he just ignored her, sat under a tree and stared at the camp fire.
"Why do you need Jugo, Sasuke-kun? Going inside the North Hideout is suicide. We'll all be dead in seconds. It's nothing but a nest of horrible unnatural monsters." said Karin after a moment of silence.
"Jugo isn't that bad. He doesn't like to fight, but he can't help it. Besides, Sasuke thinks he can control Jugo." Sakura replied.
"How do you know that he doesn't like to fight?" Sasuke asked.
"We were with Orochimaru for three years. Of course I would know about all types hideout Orochimaru has and all that kind of thing. Besides, I was travelling with Kabuto. He told me about Jugo" Sakura answered and continued, "I know for a fact that the curse mark, our curse mark…Well, Jugo is its origin."
She stood up and jumped on a tree branch and sat next to Sasuke. "Where do we go after we recruit Jugo?"
"We'll see after we get him," he answered, We move out tomorrow at dawn."
Sakura nodded, jumped back down to the ground to take the first watch.
The next morning, everyone packed up their stuff and took off. And once again Karin and Suigetsu's bickering went on for hours. They stopped a few times for Suigetsu who kept complaining about wanting to take a break. The sword was too heavy for him and was why he tired quickly. Karin suggested he should leave the sword behind, but he refused to listen to her.
Around noon, they've reached the Northern hideout and saw a man lying on the ground in front of the entrance.
Sakura ran up to him and began to heal him, "What happened?" she asked.
"U….Uchiha Sasuke..? Please….Save us." The man croaked out, grasping at Sakura in a daze, before he laid back and let out his last breath.
"Oops….he's dead." said Suigetsu.
Suddenly another man with a level two curse mark, jumped down and attacked. The group scattered in all directions to avoid the blow.
"What the hell is that thing?!" Suigetsu asked.
"A Level two curse seal." Karin answered.
Before anyone else could move, Sasuke put on a burst of speed and sliced open the enemy's stomach in one wipe. Their attacker fell to the ground as Sasuke turned back to his companions.
"That's the North Hideout, up there. Hurry up and find Jugo." He said.
When they walked into the base, they saw the floor littered with bodies and blood soaking into the walls and ceiling. Sakura found a set of keys on one of the men near the entrance and picked them up. The group kept on walking, following Karin, until they arrived at a large metal door.
"Here?" Sasuke asked.
"Yeah, Jugo's inside." Karin replied.
Sakura put the key in the keyhole and unlocked the door. She slowly opened the door and peeked inside.
She suddenly heard someone screaming; "BINGO! I'LL KILL A WOMAN!"
And saw a shape running towards her.
Sasuke dashed in front of Sakura and steeled himself for the blow. Instantly the wall next to the group was crushed. Jugo had slammed Sasuke against the wall, but Sasuke had activated his second level curse seal; One of his wings blocked Jugo's attack and pushed him away from Sasuke.
"Jugo, stop!" Sakura yelled.
"I have no intention of fighting, I just want to talk to you, Jugo." said Sasuke, but nothing had changed.
Jugo began to approach Sasuke again, but this time Suigetsu stopped it with his sword. Suigetsu and Jugo smirked at each other and began to fight in earnest.
"Stop it, both of you." said Sasuke.
Sakura couldn't take it anymore. She rushed between them as they parted in preparation for another blow. She stood between them and raised her hands the either side to form a barrier between Suigetsu and Jugo.
"STOP!" she yelled.
'Good! All three of them can die!" thought Karin, overjoyed at this development in the fight.
They couldn't stop, however, and were about to hit Sakura. Sasuke dashed in front of Sakura and summoned two snakes to stop them.
"You two...Do you want me to kill you?" Sasuke's voice darkened and activated his Sharingan.
Sakura looked at Sasuke and she suddenly had a deja-vu feeling; this had happened before. She slowly looked at the two boys, they'd stopped fighting each other and were now only glaring. That's when she suddenly remembered;
Sakura had done the same thing, back when she and Sasuke were still in the village. It was actually the same day, they left the village. It was morning….Sasuke and Naruto were fighting each other. She couldn't do anything, but just stand there and watch them fight. However, when the fight got out of hand, she jumped between them and begged them to stop. They also couldn't stop and were about to hit her. Luckily her sensei, Kakashi was on time to deflect their attacks and send them crashing into the water tower.
Sakura looked at her hands. This was the exact situation. After all this time, after all the training with Kabuto, Orochimaru and Sasuke…. After everything she had done….
'How did I still end up here? Just like then, couldn't do anything but to stand between them and let first Kakashi and now Sasuke save me…..I'm pathetic' thought Sakura with a saddened expression.
Suigetsu and Jugo shakenly kept staring at Sasuke while the snakes slowly released them and slithered back into his shirt.
Jugo's cursed seal slowly started to recede. When it was completely receded, he looked at Sakura.
"S...Sakura?" he whispered.
Sakura snapped out of her thoughts and looked at Jugo. She was glad he was back to normal.
"I almost hurt you...or even worse, killed you." he whispered. He started to scream, ran back towards his cell and shut the door. "Hurry up and lock the door! I don't want to kill any more people!" he continued yelling.
"Jugo, I came here to take you out of here. Come with me." Sasuke replied.
"Such a split personality." said Suigetsu.
"That's Jugo. He is driven by an intent to kill. He doesn't want to kill, but he can't control himself." Karin explained.
"Please come out..." asked Sakura softly.
"Orochimaru is dead. I need you to come with me. If you try to kill anyone, I'll stop you." said Sasuke.
"The only person who could calm me, was Kimimaro." Jugo replied.
"Kimimaro?" Sakura looked at Sasuke. She had heard that name before.
"Jugo...Kimimaro is dead. He died fighting for my sake." said Sasuke.
That's when Jugo realized whom he was talking to. The last time he had spoken to Kimimaro, was when Kimimaro told him that he had to go and protect Sasuke.
Jugo slowly stood up and walked out of his cell. "I'll join you. Kimimaro sacrificed his life to protect you. I need to see for myself how strong of a shinobi you are."
He looked at Sakura and apologized to her. "It's okay. It's in the past." she replied.
"Then it's settled" said Sasuke and they all started to head outside of the base. However, Sasuke stopped Sakura for a minute to talk to her in private.
"What's wrong, Sasuke?" she asked.
"Never do that again….jumping between them" he paused,
For a minute, Sakura had completely forgotten about that. She wanted to say something, but was too distraught.
"It's annoying." he finished and walked away.
Sakura stared at his back. She fell to her knees and kept staring at his back until she couldn't see him anymore. She started to laugh softly like a crazy person until a tear started to run down her cheeks;
"I haven't changed…..."
xXx
~To Be Continued~
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