Naruto 1. Prologue

_~ Sakura's POV ~_

**Prologue**

It was dark. Too dark.. as if all of the light in the entire world had vanished into thin air. Even when I managed to open up my eyes, I was greeted with a black void. I couldn't see any of my surroundings, like someone had placed a blindfold over my eyes.

Fear slowly crept its way into my veins, and adrenaline started to overcome my body. What if something happened to me? What if I had been held captive and all hope for my life was thrown out the window?

I tried to think of what I last did, or any past situations but my mind drew up a blank. To try and calm myself down, I attempted to move my arms and to my surprise I was able to move them freely. Slowly, I began to move all of my limbs all the way down to my toes.

I sat there for a few moments just listening to my own rapid breathing before attempting to get up to my feet, nearly falling over in the process.

My legs were like jelly and I had a headache the size of a rock periodically hurting in my forehead and in the back of my skull. I felt like someone had beat me senseless with a bag of bricks.

I moved around senselessly, nothing stopping me in my way and I started to wonder if I really was in a black void. It was just then that I began to noticed a strange smell.

How long has this smell been here? It smelled sweet.. yet oddly familiar. Nothing came to mind when I tried to think of what exactly the smell was.

Just then, a light dancing around in the shadows slowly made it's way towards me. It was small, the size of a pearl but as it approached closer the bigger it became. I watched in curiosity until the light stopped right in front of me, close enough for me to reach out and grasp it into the depths of my palms.

My attention was snatched elsewhere when I started to pick up a small sound. It sounded like someone was speaking, muffled as if they were trying to talk through a pile of clothes. Suddenly, the light in front of me without a warning opened up like a new flower in bloom and began to engulf me in it's blinding light.

The light was so bright that I had to hide my face behind my arms to escape the incredible burst of sun and the muffled talking became louder with each passing second.

I started to feel the sensation of being carried, and then I was suddenly dropped down so lightly that I almost couldn't tell I was being put down.

I opened my eyes slowly because the blinding light was still there, but I eventually worked my eyes to the brightness and was able to finally open my eyes completely.

Curiously, I started to look around me and noticed that I was in a hospital bed, clothed in one of those dreadful hospital gowns. A window was to my right, giving sight to the dead dark town beneath. I guessed it was some time in the middle of the night because I saw the crystal clear stars and bright marvelous moon hanging in the sky.

A gasp made me whip my head to my left, my gleaming jade eyes landing on a short dark haired woman, who looked like she was holding something. I squinted to see if my eyes were playing tricks on me. Apparently not, because this woman was indeed holding a pig.

Don't they hold diseases or something..?

Another lady was in the room, standing beside her with her back facing towards me. All I could see was her blond hair pulled back loosely into two pigtails, and the coal black high heels she was clanging against the floor in frustration.

The said woman was talking among herself, and I could barely make out words like '_damn paperwork_' and '_no sake_' coming out in an agitated manner. I immediately realized this was the muffled talking I had picked up earlier.

I glanced back over and noticed how Pig lady continued to gaze over at me with wide coal black eyes, looking at me as if she had seen a ghost.

Why was she staring at me so intensely? Was something on my face?

The lady grasped onto the blonde woman's long sleeve, barely able to muttering out something."Look..!"

"What!?" snapped out the blonde lady looking in the direction of the other lady's gaze with sharp honey colored eyes, which instantly received that wide disbelief look when she gazed upon me.

I was seriously starting to think there was something on my face. Just to put my mind at ease, I raised one of my tube-stricken arms and began to feel around across my forehead and down to my cheeks. Nope, nothing was there. So why are these people looking at me like that?

The blonde haired woman immediately ran to my side, opening my eyes in weird positions and checking my vital signs. "Sakura! It's Tsunade, can you hear me?" she spoke to me with urgency in her voice.

What I did next apparently shocked them both to death because she paused in what she was doing and just stared at me, her eyes showing first horror and then grief.

I looked at them both and before quietly uttering two words. "Who's Sakura?"

* * *

Okay so I've had this idea playing around in my head for a while now, and I managed to get on the computer long enough to type this up! It's a little short, more like just an intro to the story so the following chapters will be longer! I haven't wrote anything in a while, so please be nice with Reviews!

Love,

Dat-Moustache


	2. Chapter 1

_~ Chapter one. ~_

A sharp pain without warning shot straight to my heart at the sight of this blonde woman sitting there with her golden honey eyes that was holding so much pain. It was there, I couldn't deny seeing it.

The depths of despair swarming around in those eyes was unimaginable, as if one of her own had just died. As if all of the hope that was still clinging at her heart for months to come completely peeled away.

"Why do you look so sad..?" I barely uttered as if my voice was fading away. I don't know why just the sight of this woman weeping in front of me teared me apart inside. As if I was watching someone I have loved for a long time break apart.

The blonde lady clinched her fist in a desperate manner, her face pulling up into a imperfect smile. "Don't worry about it. How are you feeling?" she quietly said as her golden eyes turned into an automatic focused mood that came along with being a doctor.

She reached for my head and began to check my eyes, holding a blind light in one eye for a short period of time then moving over to the next.

"I feel alright..Just really tired for some reason." I mumbled as I cringed at the brightness of the light, my eyes watering from the intensity. "Where exactly am I?"

I felt the woman tense for a moment, but then continued to work checking my vital signs. This time, it was the pig lady who spoke up.

"We're in a village called the village hidden the leaves, or also known as Konohagakure." she voiced in a dry manner and was quick to the point but I could hear the emotions behind her tense voice. Apparently I was affecting her in some way as well.

"Konohagakure...I've never heard of a place like that before." I said while playing with my hands in a feeble manner. The blonde lady pulled back from what she was doing and sat in a seat next to the hospital bed. The chair didn't really look comfortable but apparently the lady paid no mind.

"What exactly do you remember? She asked as she looked at me with her harden honey eyes, clearly about to investigate me and find out as much as possible. I looked over at pig lady and she too was staring at me intensely, her pig making occasional grunts.

"Well.. honestly nothing. You look familiar, but I don't know any of you. I don't know where I am." I squeaked out. I was starting to feel closed in, as if the walls were shrinking and the room was becoming smaller.

"I don't know who I am." I whispered softly, my eyes becoming foggy and I felt like I was on the brink of tears. Why couldn't I remember anything? What exactly happened to me?

The blonde lady gave me a somber look and let out a sigh. "Don't push yourself too hard. Do you want me to fill in some of those blanks for you?" I nodded in answer to her question and watched closely as she took a lungful breath and opened her mouth to begin.

"Something happened to you. No one knows who or what happened exactly. One of our own ninja's found you in some woods outside of our village almost dead. You had been missing for almost 2 months before hand.. nobody knew where you had gone. We sent people upon people trying to find you but every single mission failed. You have been in a coma-like state for about a month and we waited,desperately hoping you would wake up. We hoped but you showed no signs of response. I'm surprised you even lived at all."

Shock slowly entered into every single one of my veins and I tried to comprehend what this woman was telling me. That all this had happened to me, and during some point in time I had almost died. I had almost breathed my last and no one would know why. No one would know the truth.

What about the people who I would have left behind? Was there anybody? Would what happened to me send their world crashing into the abyss and slowly crush them to pieces? Would I have caused any pain unknowingly?

The blonde lady sighed once more at seeing my astonished face and reached over towards me to grasp my hand into the depths of hers, her golden honey eyes softened like a mothers would to her crying child.

"It's okay. You're awake now, and I'm sure many people would love to be seeing you as soon as possible. This is great news, so don't beat yourself up over it young lady." A tiny smile broke out on my face at her words and I reached to wipe the forming tears from my eyes with my free hand.

"Who's all the people?" I asked curiously as she got up from her squeaky chair and walked towards the end of the room, grabbing a stack of papers off of the desk she was previously at.

She laughed at my question, which seemed silly now once the words came out. "Let's just say a lot. We'll allow visits as soon as we feed you and let you sleep, but only if you want to. You don't have to see them until you are ready to." She turned around for a moment, breaking my contact with the back of her shirt and looked me steady in the eyes. "Do you want visitations?"

I thought about it for a moment. I wouldn't know anyone.. but I couldn't just say no. These people could have known me half of my life. Just because I forgot about them didn't mean they never existed. That our bonds of friendship had never existed.

"I'll allow them to see me.." I muttered slowly, as if I was still making up my mind. The blonde lady just let a small smile slip onto her face and she motioned for the pig lady to follow her.

"I'm Tsunade, and this here is my apprentice Shizune. Believe or not, you was one of my apprentice's too. Very strong and smart." She said as she began to walk out of the room. "We'll tell a nurse to come in and take care of you after you have rested. For now, I have business to attend to so just try and get some sleep, Sakura." And then they were gone.

Apprentice? You mean I was a doctor too? And I was strong and smart? I blinked my eyes for a moment, letting this information to try to sink in as well. Did that mean I was a ninja too? Was I really capable of such abilities?

Questions such as these arose in my mind and caused me to feel very drained. Tsunade was right, I needed some rest. All of this information had my mind racing, making questions upon questions to pop up, waiting to be filled in. I looked back out of the window to look at the dark sky once more, wondering if I would be greeted with darkness again or light when I woke up. Tomorrow was going to be a busy day I had guessed, so I curled up into a ball and shut my eyes before slowly drifting off to sleep.

I woke up with a jolt, my heart racing and my jade eyes widening in alert to see what it was that awoken me. I could hear shouting outside of my hospital room door, and I looked to my right to see the bright sunshine pouring in from the window.

I noticed a plate of hospital food was arranged on a tray, along with a glass filled up to the brim with fresh orange juice. I guess I was so tired I didn't hear the nurse come in, and she was too kind to wake me up.

Turning my attention to the shouting, I immediately recognized one of the voices as Tsunade's which didn't sound too happy. The other voice was a man, who was currently shouting at Tsunade about something, obviously pissing the golden eye lady off.

"Naruto!" She hollered in rage. "She is still asleep! Once she is awake and taken care of, then I will let you see her but until then if a single toe has crossed this doorstep I will beat whoever it is senseless do you understand me?!"

"Just let it rest, Dobe." I heard another voice say. This voice was calmer than this person Naruto's and Tsunade's, and sounded soft as velvet but rather deep, showing his manliness.

I heard someone huff with disappointment and some shuffling of fabric, indicating that the person was stepping farther away from the door. "Fine.. just tell us as soon as she wakes up will ya, Granny?"

Tsunade clicked her tongue in annoyance from the nickname and started to shoo them in the direction of the end of the hallway, motioning them to go to the visiting room. "I will, if you haven't woken her already." She snapped and stood in front of the door until she saw them completely disappear.

I started to hear the creaking of the door being opened and tried to obtain my laughter in the inside but a smile managed to break out on my face.

Tsunade looked at me with tired golden eyes, and was currently rubbing her temples with the ends of her fingers, trying to massage some of the tension away.

"I suppose they just woke you up, didn't they?"

The smile on my face only grew wider and I let a small giggle come out quietly. "They sound..interesting." I managed to say without laughing.

Tsunade half smiled at my amusement, but giving me a look saying '_you don't have know_.'

"Well I hope you have fun with them because they are your team mates." She said as she made her way to the side of my bed, handing me the tray of food.

I blinked. "My team mates?" I asked questioningly.

"Team 7. The members are Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, and you.. Sakura Haruno. Then of course your sensei, Kakashi Hatake." She said in an automatic tone, as if she was reciting notes she had studied for an exam.

I took the tray of food from her hands and placed it in my lap, eyeing the food distastefully. A team... I had team mates, people who I could turn to whenever I needed help. People who were like a second family, who would have my back for anything. A thought suddenly came to mind and I turned my head towards Tsunade's direction.

"Does that mean I was a ninja?"

Tsunade gave me a softened look and closed her eyes for a moment. "_ARE_ a ninja. That's the correct way to put it. But we'll have to wait to see your abilities as of now and assign missions when you are capable, which is not the time."

I widened my brilliant jade eyes in astonishment and tried to hold back a squeal. I was a ninja! An actual ninja who had kick ass abilities and would be fighting crime! Or at least that's the way it goes right?

"Are you ready to see anyone yet, or do you want to wait? Cause it doesn't look like you're eating your food at all." She said with a raised eyebrow, letting her question sink in and give my brain time to come up with an answer.

I pushed the tray of food away and nodded my head meekly, fumbling with my hands in my lap. I could hear her exhale sharply and move to get up out of her chair, then make her way towards the door. "Alright then, I shall be back in just a moment. Let me go tell them that you are awake and ready to see them." And just like last night, she was gone that fast.

I started to grow nervous. What if I wasn't like the old me? What if I said something wrong and they hate me and won't talk to me ever again? I wanted to try to live up to the expectations of the old me except I didn't know who the old me was. Was I outgoing or distant?

All these questions bundled up into a massive ball inside of my head, and once I started to hear the creak of the door being opened my heart dropped, breaking me out of my thoughts.

"Sakura-chan..?" I heard a voice quietly say, and I recognized that this voice belonged to one of the boys outside my door earlier. From the look on their faces, I assume Tsunade had already told them about my predicament.

He slowly came inside, unsure of what to do exactly but went ahead and sat down in the chair next to my bed, looking at me in the eye with his brilliant light sapphire eyes. He looked different then what I had imagined him looking like.

His voice gave off an older version in my head but the man in front of me looked younger. He was wearing an orange and black jumpsuit, with a black headband around his forehead that had a strange symbol on it. He even had black sandals to match.

"Hello." I said with a small smile, trying to look as less nervous as possible and jumped when I felt him grab onto me. I looked down at my hands to see that he clutched onto one of my hands with his own, my hand looking pale and fragile compared to his strong and tan one.

I looked back up to his face to see him wiping tears from his eyes, trying to hide his grief from my sight. "We was worried that you was never going to wake up. Even Teme was worried sick about you."

I heard a small _'tch'_ coming from behind Naruto and just noticed the man standing behind him. He looked tall and lean with his arms crossed against his chest, wearing a black open shirt with black baggy pants cutting off at his ankles and black sandals to match as well. He had a thin robe tied around his waist to hold up what looked like a long katana sword and a black headband across his forehead with the same strange marking.

I glanced up to his face and looked deep into his coal black eyes, searching for any type of emotion and saw none. Just looking deep into those dark black voids that seemed endless gave me a strange tightness in my chest and I felt on the brink of tears.

I instantly turned away, feeling my cheeks flush from his gaze and tried to shake off the emotion that was heavy on my chest. I don't know why this man made me feel this way but I didn't like it.

"So you're Naruto..and.. Sasuke?" I managed to mumble out, pointing at both of them and hoping that I got their names right. Naruto's face lit up and tried to shake off the misery that was clinging to his eyes, while Sasuke just silently stared at me with no comment.

"Yep that's me! The great Naruto Uzumaki at your service! Believe it!" Naruto shouted out while pointing his thumb to his chest and let a bright smile blossom on his face. I let out a small laugh, tightening the grip subconsciously on his hand and paused, noticing that my hand was still in his.

I blushed and let my hand slip out of his and placed them both into my lap, staring at them nervously. All of a sudden the door opened once more to show a tall gray headed man walking into the room.

Why did he have a mask on his face? He closed the door in silence and gave me a small wave of his hand with his eyes crinkling from smiling.

"Sorry I'm late, I had to help a cat get free from a tree and help a lady with her groce-"

Naruto quickly interrupted him, pointing an accusing finger towards the man. "Yeah yeah! Stop telling all your lies Kakashi-Sensei!"

The man looked at Naruto and faked being hurt, wiping non existent tears away with his hand. "I'm hurt that you say that Naruto, for they're not lies." Naruto and Sasuke both grunted in disbelief to his words and turned their attention back to my feeble being.

Kakashi turned his attention to me as well and gave me a masked smile. "Why, Hello there Sakura. You gave us quite the scare didn't you?"

"It wasn't intentional I promise." I said returning his smile and a light awkward silence took place. I went ahead and tried to break the silence and cleared my throat to talk.

"So.. this is my team." I quietly spoke, trying not to look bewildered at their behavior. Naruto was the first to reply and I turned to him to see a goofy smile placed on his face.

"Yep! We go way back." He paused for a moment and his smile turned into a somber one. "All the stuff that happened between us would take ages to tell." He gave a dry laugh while rubbing the back of his neck.

"You could tell me them sometime you know..the stories, I mean." I sputtered out while trying to cheer up the mood. He only laughed at my attempt and the bright smile returned to his face.

"Yeah I guess I could. Teme would have to help on that too as well as Kakashi-Sensei. We could make it a team mission! To try to regain your memories back! Then team 7 can finally be together again!"

Sasuke nodded in agreement and Kakashi gave a wide masked smile while ruffling his hair. I nodded my head as well, and took a moment to look at each and every one of their faces in detail. '_So this is going to by my new family_.' I thought excitingly.

* * *

The day was coming to a close and the bright sunshine that was coming through the window was now a dark orange color, signifying that dark was about to come. Many people after my team came and went, some bringing flowers while others just briefly coming to say that they were glad to have me back.

Naruto joked that him and Sasuke would pick every flower in the village and bring it back to me but Sasuke quickly retorted no with a snort.

I had laughed and both of them got into an argument calling each other names such as '_dobe_' and '_teme_' and '_dumb ass_' which caused Tsunade to barge into my hospital room nearly yanking them by their head to get out and let someone else visit. And that was that of my first impression of my team.

One young lady that caught my attention was this beautiful blonde hair and blue eyes woman, saying that we had been rivals since we were kids. She brought me yellow flowers, with purple outlining the inside and said they came from her flower shop.

Her name was Ino Yamanaka, along with all the other different names that I will have to try and remember by the end of the day. All these people would come up to the end of my bed, sharing stories of times that we had together, some even shedding tears.

They would hold onto my hand, and grieve so deeply that I could almost feel their pain. In my own way I did, I felt pain because no matter how many tears they shed or how many stories they tell I will never remember them.

I don't even remember myself. And I honestly don't know which one I feel more pain about.

* * *

Finally Chapter one is done! I spent like 4 hours typing this up in the middle of the night so there may be a lot of grammatical mistakes. Please Review and Follow! You guise are what keeps me going with this!

Love,

Dat-moustache.


	3. Chapter 2

~Chapter Two.~

Tsunade looked out across her village with hardened golden eyes, observing the people walking up and down the streets. Children were playing with dogs and shop owners were changing their signs to 'open' to begin a new day of work.

Behind her stood a stack of papers sky high on her desk, which she was obviously trying to avoid. Tsunade glanced over at her desk and stared at the name 'Sakura Haruno' in big letters on top of a file report, showing signs that work needed to be done.

'She's always reminding me about things." Tsunade uttered under her breath, and let out a heavy sigh. Rubbing the bridge of her nose with her fingers, she stepped over to her desk and slowly picked up Sakura's file report.

She opened it up and glanced at the perfectly hand written words about Sakura's condition, running her fingers gently over her name. Everything came back fine and none of it made any sense. Except for the fact that her iron was low and some more strength was needed in her muscles, she was fine.

"What exactly happened to you, Sakura..?" Tsunade whispered to herself, tightening the grip she grasped the paper with. A shiver ran down her spine, and she could quickly imagine a numerous amount of things that could have occurred.

To think someone would have hurt her apprentice in any kind of way left Tsunade's blood boiling. She would find a way to make them be miserable for the rest of their lives if any such thing occurred and she found out about it.

* * *

The bright sunshine was piercing through the window, lighting up the entire room with it's warm glow. Birds were happily chirping their morning song and laughs could be heard on the street below in the village.

Sakura squinted her gleaming jade eyes open, holding a hand in front of her face to shield her eyes from the sunlight. Rubbing sleep from her face, Sakura's eyes trailed across the room while her candy colored hair bounced against her shoulders.

No one was in the room but herself and the luminous sunshine indicated it was in the early morning, earlier than when she woke up the previous day.

Her eyes fell upon the end table beside her bed and she noticed a bright daisy flower was planted in a vase with a note propped up against it.

Out of curiosity, she picked up the paper note and began to read the messy hand written letters. The note read: "Good morning Sakura-chan! Me and Sasuke are about to go training and will be back later. I'm going to kick his ass! Believe it!"

It took her a moment to read it, but when she finished a boastful laugh was heard across the room. She tried to prevent herself from laughing, but the fit sent her body shaking uncontrollably.

The thought of the note made her face break out into a charming smile, and small giggles escaped from across her lips. She put the note down and picked the bright flower from it's vase, holding it closely under her nose.

The fragrance from the flower smelled sweet like perfume and Sakura closed her eyes with delight. Flowers were such a beautiful thing and it was one of Sakura's most cherished things in the world.

Her chest had a strange feeling from the happiness that she crossed her teammate's minds. To think that they do indeed have a special place in their hearts for her, somewhere deep down.

Except Sasuke, she couldn't seem to figure him out. It could be that she possibly haven't had any time to really get to know him, but he still seemed different from the rest.

His eyes looked like a deep abyss that was never ending, no sign of emotions were ever there. He hardly ever spoke and most of the time he would just silently stand there while Naruto continued the conversation.

But yet he was intriguing. He fit into the picture like it was the only place in the world he belonged, with Naruto and Kakashi.

It was very hard for her to figure out his way of communicating. He never showed any emotion in anything he would do, except for when him and Naruto would get into their outrageous arguments.

Naruto on the other hand always seemed cheerful, his gleaming blue eyes would sparkle with delight every time he saw her. She noticed how deep his musky voice would ring with boastful laughter when they both talked about random things, and how he would scratch the back of his neck out of embarrassment.

It made Sakura happy to know these details about her team. She wanted to know more about all of them, stories of long ago, of times where they were happiest in life with the old Sakura.

Maybe the next time that they see each other, Sakura could bring it up and hopefully they will oblige. They were in the middle of training at the moment, so it might be a while before they came back.

In the meantime, Sakura had to find something to entertain herself before her team came back from training, whenever that was going to be. She hadn't had any visitors for the past couple of days except for her team, so it was unlikely that anyone else would visit her today.

Sakura looked down at her hands and began to play with them in a feeble manner, examining her fingernails in detail. There wasn't really much to do in a hospital and to top it all off she didn't know her way around the place anyway.

At the same time, she assumed she would have a very long talk with Tsunade if she caught her wobbling around the halls.

Sakura looked out across the window, into the shining world outside and saw construction workers nailing wood pieces together on a building next to the hospital. It looked very hot outside and she could see the beads of sweat rolling down the workers' faces.

At least they were able to do something besides being cramped up into a bed all day with nothing to do. She would prefer to be working like the men outside her window rather than being cooped up into a solid white room all day long.

But there was nothing she could do about her situation except to wait for someone to come and check on her. Sakura noticed that her breakfast was not next to her like it usually was every morning when she woke up, so the nurses must be making their rounds soon.

From the looks of it outside, it seemed to be around 8 or 9 am in the morning. Every morning she would usually wake up about 11 am, around lunch time.

Just as she was thinking it, Sakura could hear the creak of the door being opened and watched silently while the nurse came inside and shut the door quietly behind her. The young lady gave Sakura a charming smile and began to make her way to her, setting the tray down in front of Sakura carefully.

"Good morning." The nurse quietly spoke, and she smiled sweetly at Sakura while tucking loose hair behind her ear.

"Good morning." Sakura muttered and returned the lady's smile. "What time is it exactly?"

The nurse's expression changed into a thinking one while she pondered what time it was. "I'm not entirely sure.."The lady spoke softly. "I think the last time I glanced at the clock it was about 8:24 in the morning..But that has been about an hour ago so maybe a little after 9?"

Sakura shook her head in understanding and reached down at her plate to grasp a grape in her hand. Popping it in her mouth, she chewed and savored the flavor before swallowing.

"Tsunade should be here in a moment to check up on you. She's finishing up with a few patients and she said she would be heading this way," The young nurse said before taking a small bow in farewell and headed out the door.

Well at least now she will have something to do besides stuff her face.

The thought of seeing Lady Tsunade again excited her a little. The poor lady had been so busy, she hadn't seen her for a few days.

She was the Hokage, and it was very understandable that she hadn't been checking on her. Sakura was sure that the lady still thought about her while on her shifts these past few days.

Sakura looked down at her clean plate and started to examine the variety of what the hospital gave her. She had grapes on one side of the plate as well as a whole banana cut into pieces, and other different kinds of fruits. They also decided to give her a glass of water with this mornings' breakfast and she picked up the glass hastily while chugging a vast amount of it.

She didn't realize how dry her throat was until she had almost finished the entire glass, in a matter of only minutes. Well, at least now she wouldn't feel as parched from thirst as before.

Minutes seem to tick by and Sakura lazily stared out of the window, watching the men work and listened to the children on the street below.

Her hands in her lap were going crazy, fiddling with one another and she looked down to examine her fingers.

The creaking of the door being opened startled her, and she glanced up to look into the face of a tired Tsunade. She was pinching the end of her nose from the pain of her headache as she walked closer to Sakura, taking a seat in the hard uncomfortable chair.

"Good Morning, Sakura." She said in a hushed tone and gave her a tired smile while taking one of Sakura's hands into her own.

"Morning, Ms. Tsunade," Sakura quietly said while tightening her grip on the lady's hand. She looked like she was about to pass out from exhaustion and her brows were pulled tightly back on her face.

"I'm sorry I haven't been able to see you the past couple of days, Sakura. I sent a lot of people on a certain mission and it turned badly. A lot of our shinobi's got hurt so I have been treating them these past few days." She said in a tired tone, and began to pinch the bridge of her nose once more.

"It's completely fine, Ms. Tsunade." Sakura said with a charming smile. Tsunade only gave her a small smile back before slowly hopping out of her uncomfortable seat. "Today we're going to take a walk around the hospital's garden, give you a breath of fresh air. I can imagine it hasn't been easy staying cooped up in this room all day long."

Sakura gave her a look saying '_you don't even know_' and watched Tsunade as she began to unhook the tubes that were tightly attached to her arms.

Tsunade reached out her hand waiting on Sakura to take it, and slowly began to walk towards the door with an unstable Sakura linked arm in arm by her side.

They both took slow baby steps to make sure Sakura could walk properly, and twisted the door knob to head out the door and into the hallway.

She was so excited that she was finally being able to get out of that dreadful room. Spending every moment staring at the blank white walls was almost driving her crazy.

She needed some change and taking a small walk around the garden was incredibly more than she could hope for.

She was starting to think that Tsunade really did understood her, and knew how it felt to live every day in this hospital. Work could be killing, and she could imagine the long dead nights Tsunade spent curing the injured.

"Be careful, there are going to be three steps downward here." Tsunade's voice spoke out, and Sakura could fill her gently tug her arm in the right direction.

"Thank you, Ms. Tsunade" She suddenly muttered, and raised her head toward the lady's direction with a gleaming smile.

"Don't call me Ms. Tsunade. Just Tsunade-shishou is fine." She replied as she looked towards Sakura with a charming smile.

Sakura gently nodded in understanding and continued to walk steadily side by side by her doctor. A gasp uncontrollably came from across her lips and she gazed in awe at the sight in front of her.

There was a beautiful Cherry tree in bloom to her right, the soft petals flowing in the breeze and a marble fountain in the center of the garden.

The garden broke out in 2 different directions and the road was made out of cobblestones tightly lined together. Sakura stared silently at the beauty ahead of her and broke the link between her and Tsunade's arm before wobbling her way to the Cherry Tree.

"This is so beautiful.." She breathed out while taking one of the petals into her palm, running her fingers gently over the velvet skin.

"We just recently built this garden maybe 3 years ago. I think it did well to the patients to add something that would bring them comfort while they stayed at the hospital." Tsunade spoke out in a heavy tone as she walked over to the fountain, dipping her fingers into the cool water inside.

"I think it was a marvelous idea." Sakura gleamed as she looked towards Tsunade's direction while plopping down on the wooden bench that was beneath the Cherry tree. It looked like a view out of a movie it was so beautiful.

"Thank you. It took me a few months to get the council to agree to build it, but I managed somehow." Tsunade said while staring at her reflection in the water below her. She paused for a moment before looking up at Sakura's face, her golden honey eyes boring into the young lady's dazzling green ones. "Sakura, I want to talk to you about your results that came back."

Sakura stalled for a moment before shakily getting up off the wooden bench. "Was anything wrong?" She hesitantly asked while fiddling with her hands, waiting for the lady to answer her.

"Actually, no. That's the weird part about it, nothing came back wrong at all except for a deficiency of iron. Nothing explains what made you be in a state like that for so long." Tsunade quietly answered as she tightened the grip she grasped the fountain with.

Sakura gave a small smile before walking over to the fountain next to Tsunade, her eyes glued to the crystal clear water below her. "Then that's good right?"

She knew it wasn't good. Nothing coming back at all was worse than finding out the truth and having closure. She needed answers to the questions that continuously popped into her head, but now it seems she will never get them.

She just needed some hope that everything was going to be alright for her. That maybe tomorrow she won't go back to being in a dead like state for how long she didn't know.

Tsunade gave her a somber look and opened her mouth to comfort the young lady but was interrupted by obnoxious yelling heard across the garden.

"I totally almost kicked your ass Teme! Next time I will for sure, Believe it!"

"Whatever you want to believe, Dobe." Sakura could hear Sasuke answer Naruto. She began to see the small shadows of them coming through the garden at the far end and waved happily towards them.

"Hey! Naruto, Sasuke!" Sakura shouted out and she could see both of them breaking out of their argument for a moment to glance up towards her direction.

"Sakura-Chan!" She could hear Naruto yell and saw him began to jog towards her with a lazy paced Sasuke trailing behind him. "How are ya feeling?"

"I feel pretty okay at the moment." Sakura shyly said while glancing up to Naruto and Sasuke's face. She could see the scraps and scratches all over both of their bodies, and noticed how Naruto's cheek had blood pouring from it.

"Are the both of you okay?" She quietly asked while inspecting the both of them. "You guys are pretty messed up."

"Yeah! Just some hard training between me and Teme. I almost kicked his bastard ass, too! BELIEVE IT!" Naruto obnoxiously burst out which lead to Tsunade dragging him by his ear towards her.

"Shut it! I have a killing headache at the moment and you are doing me no favor by yelling my ear off!"Tsunade barked out with a vein popping from her forehead. Her golden honey eyes had a fire in them and Naruto slowly shrunk 10 times smaller in the jumpsuit he was wearing.

"That's what you get, Dobe." Sasuke quietly muttered out with a amused smirk plastered on his face. Sakura couldn't help but stare at his beautiful smirk in silence, and looked away quickly out of reflex when she saw him turn his eyes towards her.

She couldn't help the blush that was slowly burning her cheeks from feeling Sasuke's gaze upon her. The best thing to do was try to ignore him, she supposed.

"So what are you guys doing now?" Sakura muttered softly as she gave both of them a wide smile, tucking loose bubble pink hair behind her ear. She was trying her hardest to ignore the stare that Sasuke was boring into her skull, and began to try to focus on what Naruto was going to say.

"We were heading home to take a shower before showing back up to see you." Naruto exclaimed and began to scratch the back of his neck out of habit. "Didn't expect to run into you out here. Finally being able to escape your prison?"

A soft laugh escaped her lips and her hand flew up to her mouth in embarrassment. "Yes, actually I am." She giggled as she glanced over to a irritated Tsunade who was rubbing the bridge of her nose in pain.

"I'm going to go ahead and take Sakura back up to her room. I believe we have had plenty of fresh air, and I have a load of paperwork to file out." Tsunade wistfully stated before carefully wrapping her arm around Sakura's.

"I will see you later; Naruto,Sasuke." Sakura gleamed before giving them a small wave of her hand as Tsunade led them out on the exit of the garden and towards the hospital.

"Sure, we'll check up later Sakura-Chan!" Naruto yelled out while waving hysterically, Sasuke just silently stared before raising his hand slowly in acknowledgment.

"I'm sorry to pull you short today in our get-together, but I'm a busy woman Sakura." Tsunade uttered out tiredly, rubbing her forehead with one of her ageless hands.

"It's perfectly fine, Tsunade-shishou. At least I was able to get out at all." Sakura said with a smile as she glanced over towards Tsunade's direction. Her face really did look dull with tiredness, and she could see clearly the dark bags under the older woman's eyes.

It only took them a few minutes to make their way back up to Sakura's room, and before she knew it she was lying in bed once again staring at the blank wall.

Tsunade had left quickly, muttering quietly about something about paperwork and headed out the door before Sakura could even blink. She supposed that the old lady really was as busy as the work had seemed.

And once again, Sakura was idly staring at the white walls in boredom, occasionally glancing towards the clock in anticipation. Naruto and Sasuke said they were only going to take a quick shower and then come and see her, but that had been over an hour ago and they still haven't shown.

She was shocked to find out how bad she really did want to spend more time with them. They kept her sane and entertained in her long days at the hospital.

Sakura's eyes started to become droopy, and she was finding it hard to keep them open. Just sitting here for an hour with nothing to do made her extremely sleepy and she prayed that they would show up soon before she fell asleep.

Just as she was thinking it, Sakura snapped her head to the sound of the creaking door being opened, and smiled sweetly at Naruto as he quietly made his way in.

"Hey Sakura-Chan. Sorry it took me so long." He said with a deep sigh coming off his chest, and made his way over to the harden seat that was placed along side her bed. "I was starving so I ate a little ramen before I showed up."

"It's seriously fine, Naruto!" Sakura spoke as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes. "I was about to go to sleep before you showed up." She said before glancing around the room in wonder, her brows furrowed back onto her face. "Where's Sasuke anyway?"

"Oh, Teme? Probably still in the shower. He takes a long ass time making himself beautiful." Naruto laughed out as he clutched his stomach from the fit of laughter. "It happens every time, so don't take it personal."

"I didn't, I was just wondering." Sakura breathed out as she glanced up at his face, searching his brilliant blue eyes for a moment. "Do you know what exactly his problem is with me?"

She could see Naruto pause in what he was doing, apparently seeming surprised at her random question. "Sasuke doesn't have a problem with you, where did you get that idea from?" He asked as his face changed into a pondering one. Sakura glanced away quickly, fearful of the embarrassing blush that might take place on her face from his direct steady gaze.

"I don't know.. He seems.. distant towards me. I've noticed he usually won't say anything, he'll just silently stare as we talk." She softly whispered into the quiet of the room, and started wordlessly at her hands that she was fiddling with in a nervous manner.

Naruto began to scratch his head in thought and reached over to give Sakura a comforting pat on the shoulder. "Nah, that's just Sasuke. He's always been rather quiet, even back when we were genin." He said before pausing in his speech to a sudden thought coming to him. "Or it could be what happene-"

Naruto stopped abruptly what he was saying before quickly trying to change what he accidentally let slip out. "I..I mean, you just have to spend more time with him to really get to know his way of communicating." He spurted out nervously before scratching the back of his neck idly.

"What happened between me and Sasuke?" Sakura asked interestingly and leaned forward towards Naruto while staring deep into his ocean blue eyes. "Tell me, I want to know."

Naruto gave an uneasy look before running one of his hands down the front of his face. "Fine..I wasn't supposed to say anything about it, but if you want to know I'll tell you." He muttered while looking away, rubbing his hand on the back of his neck. "But I didn't say anything, you got me!"

"Of course, of course." She gave a wide charming smile before sticking out her pinky towards him. "Pinky promise I won't say a word." Naruto paused lazily before giving a small rumbling laugh at the childish act she was doing, and gave her a bright smile before wrapping the end of his pinky around hers.

"Well...to be honest, we didn't entirely tell you everything about your situation." Naruto began before looking down at Sakura's hands that were fiddling in her lap. "Sasuke at the time was coming back from a high ranked mission when it happened. "He said before letting his eyes fall upon Sakura's gleaming jade ones.

"And?" She spoke out quietly, almost holding her breath to find out what Naruto was getting at. She felt like she was about to break into a sweat, something about the situation made her skin feel icky and her hair stand on end.

Naruto slowly spoke out, carefully watching her interested expression before telling her the hidden information. "Sakura...Sasuke was the one that found you."

* * *

Okay so here is chapter 2! It took me a while to get this up cause of college but I managed it :D What do you guys think? Please Read and Review!

Love,

Dat-Moustache


	4. Chapter 3

~Chapter Three. ~

The steaming hot water came down on Sasuke's body in a soothing beating pattern, washing away all of the tension from his muscles and all the grit and grime from his body.

He watched silently as the crimson red blood drained out of the shower, swirling in a circular motion before washing down the drain and into the pipe below. Naruto and his training they did earlier popped into his mind suddenly, and he began thinking about the entire day he spent with the Dobe.

They had left early in the morning, before Sakura woke up, and had been practicing all day long. The hot blazing sun had been beating down on their bodies, accumulating beads of sweat that caked their entire skin.

It had been a long practice of sparring and the fatigue that was in his muscles all over his body had shown sign of their hard work. Sasuke's mind wondered to the conversation that they had while they sparred, and his mind drifted to a certain pink haired girl.

He knew that he was late coming to visit her. He knew that she was sitting there waiting on him but he took his time getting ready, knowing that Naruto would keep her company in place of him. He had hoped that he would be late enough that she would be asleep when he got there. Having a conversation with the girl was difficult, and he didn't particularly like opening up to this new Sakura just yet.

Flashes of her bloody and shredded body flashed before his mind, her bubble pink hair sprawled out around her stained with the dark crimson red color, causing shivers to run through his body. Sasuke slammed his fist against the shower marble wall, panting while rubbing furiously at his eyes with his other hand. He didn't want to think about her like that; he didn't want to be reminded of that night his world flipped upside down. The night that he thought he would lose her forever.

And in a way he did. Sakura would never be the same person that she had been before. She wouldn't know the hardships that made her into the strong willed ninja that she had been in the past.

Something inside of him had snapped seeing her in such a death state, and he swore that that he would find the person who did this to her and tear them into tiny pieces, slowly so that he can see the light fading out of their eyes.

They would know pain, pain like what they had inflicted on someone that was precious to him. They would pay in one way or another, and Sasuke was damned sure that either way wasn't going to be something they would live to talk about later.

Sasuke reached for the shower faucet and twisted it to his right, turning off the steaming hot water before shaking his hair to get the loose water out and stepped out of the shower.

He grabbed his towel that was placed on top of the toilet and began to furiously dry his hair before drying off his body.

From the look of it outside, it seemed to be a little past midnight and the marvelous moon shined through his window and onto his face, highlighting his features in a beautiful glow.

He always liked night time more than the day time. The night was always cool in the village Konoha, and the sound of chirping crickets set his mind at ease.

Sasuke wrapped his towel around his waist perfectly and opened up the bathroom door to step out of the room. His bedroom wasn't that far from the bathroom, just down the hall and to the right. The house he was staying in was his parents' old house; the home where he had many memories as a child.

It was a massive house with a porch connected all around the building, and a bamboo garden in the back. There were dead flowers planted around the small pond that was in the backyard and beautiful wind chimes hanging from the roof of the house.

Sasuke stopped to open the door to his bedroom and twisted the doorknob to walk on through. His room was cleaned spotless. The few things that were in the room were all put nicely into their place.

He walked over to his closet to grab a few of his clothes and took his time putting them on. It was about one o'clock in the morning now, and he was just stepping out of his house and into the dark outside.

The only light in the sky was the gleaming stars that shown brightly like diamonds and the marvelous moon shining beautifully across the village, lighting everything in it's soft glow.

Sasuke walked through the empty streets and noticed there was hardly anyone about. He liked it when it was like this, when the streets were quiet and the only thing he could hear was the soft whistle of the blowing wind. It was lonesome, but to him he was at ease being by himself.

At times like these, it was easy for him to collect his thoughts and not have to be interrupted by the endless chatter of daily villagers on the streets.

He wanted to take his time getting to the hospital, so he took the long way there with a slow steady pace, his hands tucked in his pockets and his eyes closed. His feet came across the wood of the old bridge the young team 7 met at every morning for training and before he realized it memories began to flash before his eyes.

The bubble pink smile Sakura used to have that seemed so radiant in it's glow, the fiery look in Naruto's sapphire eyes, and Kakashi's masked smile that made him feel like everything was going to be okay.

Those were the good old days, when they were young and innocent and their bodies didn't bare scars of hardships they went through growing up; before they knew the horrors of the ninja way and the sacrifices that came long with the title.

Many lives were sacrificed for him to be able to stand where he was standing now, his brother's life being one of them. A sharp pain stabbed at his heart and Sasuke immediately shut off his mindset and emotions as soon as the thought of his brother popped into his head.

He couldn't bare to think about him right now, knowing that it was his own fault this his brother's life was taken away from this earth. He was the reason why the eyes that once sparkled so brightly were now dull with death and why he was left with no one else from his family.

Sasuke was alone except for Team 7; he had no one else to come home to from missions or to spend time with on days off. His mind once again drifted to Sakura and he noticed that he was getting closer to the hospital faster than he hoped.

The hospital just now started to come into view, and Sasuke slowed his paced knowing that he was close to the building he wished he didn't have to visit that night. If it wasn't for Naruto bugging the piss out of him then he would be at home right now sleeping or having a few drinks at the bar in town. His feet dragged across the open doors of the hospital, and he glanced lazily towards the receptionist, frowning when she continuously stared at him while blushing.

It seemed like he would always attract the opposite sex and now that he thought about it, since he'd been older, it seemed they wanted him more. Sasuke tapped the green button that was on the elevator and waited patiently for the contraption to open for him, standing silently while casually popping his fingers.

Once the metal doors slid open, Sasuke took one large step into the elevator and pressed the 2nd floor button, ignoring the silent stares he seemed to be getting from the other people in the same tight space.

It seemed that time began to move slower, and the piercing looks that were being aimed at his back was about to drive him crazy. Just when he was about to turn around and glare at them, the elevator doors made a "ding!" and slid open for them to walk through.

Thank god that it opened when it did, because these people were only making his sullen mood worse. He didn't even want to be here in the first place and having people constantly goggle at him the entire time just didn't settle with him well.

Sasuke stopped in front of a solid white door with the numbers 214 marked upon it before taking a slow deep breath as he twisted the doorknob to open the door. He tried his best to make sure the door didn't creak while being opened just in case she was asleep but to his surprise Sakura was chattering idly with Naruto, both of whom were sharing a heartfelt laugh.

"Sasuke!" He heard Sakura exclaimed and she gave him a wide charming smile while Naruto jumped from his hard wooden seat to thrust his arm around him. "Teme, why the hell did you take so long!? We were waiting you know!" Naruto yelled in his ear before Sasuke quickly pushed him off while giving a big huff.

"I had things to do," he quietly said in an irritating voice and went to walk further into the room close to Sakura's hospital bed. "I had things to do." Naruto mocked from behind him and gave Sasuke the middle finger while pulling down his left eye in teasing. Sakura gave out a boastful laugh before trying to quickly cover her mouth with one of her delicate hands and watched as Sasuke turned around swiftly before taking Naruto's finger in his hand and twisting it backwards.

"Iieee! Okay okay I get it, Sasuke! It hurts let go!" Naruto shouted out while trying desperately to get away from Sasuke's piercing grip. He wouldn't be the slightest surprised if someone told him that his finger was broken, the pain was that bad.

Finally, after what seemed like an agonizing time period, Sasuke gave an brief amused smirk before letting go of his teammate's hand, casually stuffing his hands into his pockets afterwards. He turned towards Sakura, examining her in an analytic manner while noticing the small pink hue that was starting to form on her cheeks.

* * *

"How was your day?" Sakura finally gathered up the nerve to speak to him, fidgeting under his heated gaze. It was harder to look at him after what Naruto had told her, but she did her best to continue to treat him just as she did before.

"Fine."

"That's it?" She furrowed her brows in confusion, cocking her head slightly to the side while waiting for him to answer.

"Aah."

"Sasuke thinks he's too good for conversation." Naruto mumbled while massaging his hurt finger. He glanced up in curiosity just in enough time to catch Sasuke's piercing 'Go to hell' look and quickly looked away, sweating furiously. "Just a joke, Teme."

Sakura heard Sasuke let out a sigh and watched as he slowly walked to the door he just came through. "I'm leaving."

"Eehh!? You just got here!" Naruto yelled out in question and pointed an accusing finger in his direction, watching Sasuke only snort in response. "You didn't say how long I needed to stay, just that I needed to come."

"You really did just get here though, Sasuke." Sakura started to mutter in unison with Naruto, looking away quickly when his dark heated eyes began to meet hers. His gaze was starting to make her feel uncomfortable, and she subconsciously began to fumble with her delicate hands.

The room grew quiet causing her nerves to feel more jittery as she glanced at Naruto who was currently glaring Sasuke down in annoyance. Sasuke gave out another heavy sigh and broke his glare war with Naruto, and took swift steady steps to the seat beside her bed before slowly sitting down in the uncomfortable chair.

"Are you staying?" Sakura asked him while looking in his direction to see if he would answer, and began to take the sight of him in. His eyes were closed and his muscular arms were crossed over his chest, which would rise and fall in a slow breathing pattern. He made some deep noise in answer to her question, causing her to mentally sweat drop at his behavior. 'Does he ever use more than 2 words in a sentence?' Sakura asked herself quietly while watching him with raised eyebrows.

Naruto caught glance of the bewildered look on Sakura's face and instantly became overcome with fits of laughter. The sudden fit of giggles startled Sakura, causing her body to automatically jump from the sudden noise, while Sasuke just sent an annoyed look Naruto's way. "Stop being so gloomy! It was funny, Asshole." Naruto mumbled under his breath at Sasuke and scratched the back of his head out of habit. "So, Sakura-chan! When do you think old granny will let you out of the hospital?"

Sakura tilted her head and began to rub her chin with her slender fingers, her bright jade eyes sparkling with amusement while she began to ponder. "Um... She said yesterday that she would be coming to see me today to talk about that. So I'm not entirely sure.." She answered him and gave him a small shy smile, trying not to think about any of that at the moment. When she began to think of anything of that sort, her chest felt like it would burst and her head ached from over thinking, because she honestly didn't know where she would go. She didn't know if she had any family that she could stay with or if she would have to try and come up with a way to get herself her own apartment. If she had any parents, why hadn't they came to visit her?

Sakura was snapped out of her thoughts when loud shouting was heard outside of her window that was next to her bed, and looked to see what all the commotion was while Naruto ran to the window to see as well. "Who the hell is making so much noise?" Naruto whined while moving the curtains out of the way and was greeted with the dark marvelous sky and the bright glow of the moon shining through the window. "You say that like you don't make noise yourself, Dobe." Sasuke grunted while a tiny amused smirk appeared on his face.

Seeing them tease each other enlightened some sort of nostalgia all of a sudden, and she couldn't help but let a big grin come about on her face. She didn't know where the feeling was coming from, but it felt all too familiar to her as if it has always been with her.

A low laugh come from across her lips, and she smiled sweetly at them while a small hue of pink started to form on her cheeks. Her attention was snapped to Naruto when he began speaking, looking out the window in surprise. "It's Hinata!" Naruto exclaimed happily, a massive happy grin forming on his face automatically. It seemed like it all happened too fast for her brain catch up like normal cause before she realized, Naruto was rushing past her and out of the room in a hurry and left the door to her hospital room wide open.

"He's gone?" Sakura uttered in bewilderment and stared at the open door in disbelief while shaking her head, Sasuke staring at the open door as well. The room became quiet and all that could be heard was the silent breathing from the both of them, inhaling and exhaling in a slow pattern. She started to subconsciously fiddle with her fingers and tucked a stray piece of bubble pink hair behind her ear while letting out a big sigh.

It was obvious that she was nervous and she knew that Sasuke could tell, because he was looking up at her from the corner of his eye, watching silently. "Stop doing that."

Sakura jumped and looked in his direction with a dumbfounded expression, trying her hardest to fight the blush from rising to her cheeks in aw of him. "Stop doing what?" Sasuke looked at her in an irritated manner and gave a nod in the direction of her hands. "Fidgeting. It's annoying."

He had closed his eyes before he caught the way her face fell at the slight harshness of his words. He didn't have to look to know that his words had hurt her in a way, but he paid no mind.

Sakura let out a silent sigh and smoothed her hands out on top of her hospital cover and gave a fake smile to push what he just said into the back of her mind. She didn't need to let his words get her down, but the subconscious vibe that he hated her wouldn't leave her mind.

Suddenly, Sakura began to hear a group of voices coming towards her open hospital door and looked toward it's direction in just enough time to see Naruto and Hinata along with the rest of her team to come through.

"H-Hi Sakura-san." Hinata said in a timid voice, a massive velvet red blush covering her entire face. She noticed that the young lady's hand was intertwined with Naruto's, and a small smile blossomed at the adorable sight in front of her.

"Hello, Hinata." Sakura said back in greeting, and looked at Naruto's direction to see him staring at her in an analytic manner. "Sakura-chan, you've met Hinata before right?" He said before looking downwards at the shy girl beside him, who looked like she was about to faint from the interaction between them.

"Yes, she visited me here before remember?" Sakura sweetly answered before quickly glancing behind the couple to see the rest of Hinata's team and tried to suppress a laugh. The man with the glasses was leaned up lazily against the wall who looked like he had already fallen asleep in the short amount of time he was there. A snot bubble was forming out of his nose and the man next to him was giggling to himself, trying to sit on a massive dog that was beside him while saying "Getty up Akamaru!"

The dog made a loud huffing noise and simply shrugged the man off, resulting in him falling in the floor and hitting his head on the side of the desk. Naruto and Hinata turned around in just enough time to see what was going on and a quick burst of rumbling laughter broke through the silence of the room while Sasuke just gave a disturbed glare towards their direction. "Losers."

"Are they..drunk?" Sakura asked in a bewildered tone and her wide jasmine eyes opened with surprise while she pointed a delicate finger in their direction. Hinata turned back towards her and let out a heaved sigh before taking her free hand and running it through the side of her hair. "Yes.. I-I was on my way to take them back home when I ran into N-Naruto." She said in a tired manner while subconsciously tightening the grasp she had of Naruto's hand and her face blossomed into a feverish color.

Sakura nodded in understanding and gave a small smile at the adorableness of the woman in front of her before getting lost in her own thoughts. 'She looks like she's about to pass out.' Sakura thought to herself while tilting her head and staring off in space. It took a few minutes for her to realize that she was staring at Sasuke without knowing until his eyes strayed to her and she was locked in a gaze with cold depth less eyes.

A crimson blush started to form on her cheeks and she hurriedly glanced away towards another direction while bringing one of her hands to her heated cheeks. Noticing how red Sakura looked, Naruto stopped the conversation he had with Hinata and looked at Sakura's flushed face. "Sakura-chan, are you alright there?" He asked with sincerity in his voice and walked a little closer towards her to place one of his manly hands on top of her burning forehead.

The action only caused the redness to become more severe and she tried to inch away from Naruto's grasp while fidgeting with her hands. "Yes, I'm fine. I'm just starting to get tired is all." She lied wistfully and tried her best to cover up her small fib with a brilliant fake smile, subconsciously tucking a piece of her pastel pink hair behind her ear.

"I-I think we need to let Sakura-san rest for a little while. She is still r-recuperating after all." Hinata quietly uttered while sending a reassuring smile to Sakura, copying her action and tucked a piece of her lavender hair behind her ear.

Sakura could see the heave in Naruto's shoulders and how his eyes became glassy with concern while he stared at her, and gave him and Hinata a reassuring smile back. "I'll be fine. I just need rest."

"Alright, if you say so.." Naruto breathed out and turned around to wrap one of Kiba's arms over his shoulder to heave the unconscious man who was snoring loudly and began to half drag him towards the door. Hinata let out a petite giggle at the sight and began doing the same as Naruto with Shino before pausing at the door waiting on him.

"I hope you start feeling better Sakura-chan! Teme and I will come back tomorrow to pick you up from this sugar coated death hole." He said while boasting with laughter at his own personal joke before turning to Hinata with a radiant look on his face as he gazed at her. "Come on, let's go Hinata!"

"Y-Yeah." She uttered shyly and turned her head towards Sakura's direction to give one last brilliant smile. "S-See you, Sakura-san." And with that, both of them were gone leaving only Sasuke and Sakura alone together in complete silence before shutting the door quietly behind them.

It seemed that the minutes dragged on while she waited for him to say something, occasionally glancing at his breath taking face while trying to cover up the blush that was forming on her cheeks. "Sooo.." She spoke out to break the nerve-wrecking silence that was getting to her, fidgeting with her fingers and smoothing out the creases in her blanket.

She heard Sasuke let out a sigh and looked at his direction with curious jade eyes before watching him get up from the uncomfortable chair, the action causing a loud creaking noise to echo throughout the room.

"I'm leaving." He uttered in a tired tone and started to make his way towards the door before Sakura called out to him. "Wait!"

She paused for a second, seeming confused as to why she yelled out but bit her lip before opening her mouth to speak. "Naruto told me.. that you was the one to find me." She uttered out in a quiet whisper, glancing away from his face while she spoke the words and tried to not freak out when she heard nothing in answer.

Sakura glanced up to his face slowly in curiosity and found deep black eyes boring into her own brilliant jade ones. "Yeah, what of it?" He asked in annoyance before crossing his arms over his chest while continuing to stare deep into Sakura's eyes.

A nervous feeling began to fill the pit of her stomach and a shiver ran down her spine as she looked away quickly from his heated gaze. "I was just wondering.. did you see what happened?"

A period of seconds passed by in silence and it seemed to stretch on and on before he gave out another sigh before opening his mouth to answer her question. "No."

Sakura's face fell and she gave a nervous laugh while putting one of her hands up to cover up her fake smile. "O-oh.." She uttered while picking up Naruto's habit and began to scratch the back of her neck nervously before looking back up shyly to Sasuke. "Sorry for the sudden question."

Sakura placed her hands in her lap and picked at her blanket to distract her mind from his gaze before hearing footsteps starting to make their way to her door.

The hospital door opened and both Sasuke and Sakura looked in its direction to see Lady Tsunade standing there with an agitated look plastered on her face. Her honey eyes seemed to have fire in them and Sakura felt like shrinking into nothing to get away from her heated gaze. "Sakura, you should be sleeping. Visiting hours ended 2 hours ago." She tried to say in a sweet tone but it came out harsher than she intended. "I was just leaving." Sasuke said with no emotion in his face and started to walk towards Tsunade to move past her.

"Don't think you're leaving just yet. I have to have a word with you, Uchiha." Tsunade barked out and began to rub her temples with her delicate fingers, trying to relieve some of the stress that was pounding in her head.

Sasuke's look on his face darkened and Sakura let out another quiet nervous laugh before pulling her blankets up closer to herself. "I-I'm going to bed, Lady Tsunade. It's my fault that he stayed so late, so please be easy on him."

Tsunade's stressed look on her face eased a little at her words and she let out a loud sigh. "Fine. But you need plenty of sleep before you get released tomorrow morning." She said in a quick tone before turning the light off and grasping the metal doorknob in her hand, pulling it towards her to shut the door.

"Follow me." Tsunade said tiredly before starting to walk towards her office a floor above. Not having enough patience to wait in an elevator with other nurses, she skipped the automated doors and headed towards the stairs, her high heels making a rhymatic clanking against the floor.

She glanced behind her long enough to make sure that Sasuke was following her before opening the door to the stairs and quickly walked up the flight to get to the other door, Sasuke trailing right behind her effortlessly.

It wasn't before long that they were standing in front of her office doors, and Tsunade grasped the doorknob to walk on through, motioning Sasuke to take a seat that was placed in front of her massive desk.

She tried to not glance at the huge stack of papers that were still piled on top of her desk and plopped down in her comfortable chair, subconsciously letting a blissful sigh pass through her lips.

Sasuke tried to wipe the angered look on his face, standing there impatiently and hoped that this wouldn't take long so that he could go ahead and go home. "What is it that you wanted to talk to me about?" He asked while trying to keep the frustration out of his voice when he spoke to her. The last thing that he wanted to do was piss off the Hokage, knowing that he would get hell for weeks.

"Sit, Uchiha." She ordered and went to take a bottle of sake out from one of the cabinet drawers in her desk and started to pour a shot for her to take. She gave him a death glare when he continued to stand with his arms crossed over his chest, but smirked when she heard him let out a sigh and finally did what he was told.

"I'll try to make this quick, since I know you don't like people beating around the bush." She started out while staring him directly in eyes before taking a swig of the shot that she just poured. "You know tomorrow is the day that Sakura gets out of the hospital, correct?"

Sasuke increased his glare at her while tightening his arms in front of his chest, not getting what this information had to do with him. "What does that have to do with me?" He asked smoothly while searching her honey eyes for a clue of what she was thinking.

"I know you're not going to like hearing this." She said before pausing and letting an amused smirk cross her face, as if she was enjoying her own personal joke all to herself. Tsunade grasped the bottle again with her delicate hands and poured her another shot before swiftly taking it in one swoop. Once she was done, she looked Sasuke dead in the eye before uttering what she was about to say next. "I want you to move Sakura into your home."

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FINALLY FINISHED THIS CHAPTER AHHH! I'm so happy ~*0*~ There may be a few mistakes so please forgive that LOL. Please review! I need ideas to try and fight off this writers block ;-; Yall are my inspiration! I hope you enjoy the chapter~


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