Chapter Text
Sakura walked into her office with a sigh. It had been a long day at the Konoha Children's Therapy Center and her body was tired from the 12-hour shift. But, even so, she had plans to go see Naruto and Hinata's new house that evening. So, she made her way over to her desk to touch up her makeup. When she pulled open the drawer to retrieve her hand mirror, her eyes fell on 5 carefully folded pieces of paper.
5.
She had received exactly 5 notes from him for the last 2 years since he left. Most of them were only one or two words long, like "Safe" or the "Congratulations" she received on her birthday a few weeks back. For most it hardly constituted a relationship, but it was enough for her to know he had been thinking of her. She smiled warmly as she looked at them, and then continued about getting ready to leave and head to the Uzumaki home.
"I wish you could be here too, Sasuke."
Sasuke entered the village from above the fence line on the western end of Konoha. No sense in getting everyone worked up by going through the front gate. It wasn't really his style to call a lot of attention to himself these days. He wandered down the streets of Konoha honestly not sure exactly where he was heading. At first, he headed toward the Hokage's office, knowing full-well Kakashi would be there even at this hour doing paperwork. But then he changed his mind and started to head to Naruto's apartment. Of course, then he remembered that Naruto just got married and he didn't want to drop in on him and Hinata unexpectedly. His mind drifted back to the last letter he had received from Naruto.
"I was talking with Sakura about the current you... After so long... are you coming home?"
Sakura. The name filled him with a warmth that was similar but very different from the warmth he felt from Naruto. She, who had always harbored and expressed a love for him, even when he deserved it the least; she who had personally overseen his treatment at the hospital after the war; she who had visited him more than anyone else while he was imprisoned; and she who asked to go with him when he left on his journey. When he thought of "home" it was her that felt like the correct place to go.
Almost without realizing, he found himself walking toward the Konoha Hospital in the starlight. Not many people were out at this time of night in the village unless they were heading out on missions or running last minute errands before heading home. It almost felt empty. When he arrived at the hospital, he noticed that there was another building he'd never seen before nestled near the eastern side of the property.
The sign read "Children's Therapy Center" and beneath that "Dr. Sakura Haruno".
As he glanced up from the sign, his eyes fell on a surprised pair of green eyes in the moonlight.
"S...Sasuke-kun?"
At first, he felt his eyes shift coolly away from hers. A terrible habit from the years of trying to appear aloof toward her. But he was ready for things to be different. He had resolved that he wasn't afraid of what he wanted next. So, he shifted his eyes back to her and warmly said, "I'm back, Sakura."
They stood in stunned silence for a moment, exchanging awkward looks until Sakura softly said, “Welcome home, Sasuke.”
It was strange how natural it sounded coming from her, especially since it was a phrase he couldn’t recall hearing since he was a child. He nodded a silent thank you to her and then noticed the grocery bag she was carrying.
“Here,” he mumbled, reaching out to take it from her. Why was he being so shy with her? It wasn’t as if he’d never spoken to her before. But the two years away on his own had made him stiff in his social interactions.
“Oh, thank you,” Sakura said, handing the bag over to him. “I was just heading over to Naruto and Hinata’s place and I wanted to bring some strawberries as a gift. Why don’t you come too? Naruto would be happy to see you.”
And with that, they were heading through Konoha together. It felt foreign and at the same time so comfortable. But he could practically feel the nervous energy radiating from Sakura as they padded along the street. Like she was holding in so many things she wanted to say.
"So, are you staying this time?" she asked quietly.
He was quiet for a moment considering how to answer. "I want to," he finally said, and he noticed the tension in her shoulders relax a bit. Just above them her hair glowed like a pink halo in the light of the streetlamps.
"Well, that's good then," Sakura finally said with a smile. “We’ve really missed you here.”
"Mm," he responded. Things became a little awkward after that. It was quiet in town and the only sounds were distant forest noises and the sounds of their feet on the pavement. "So, the therapy center?" he asked in a half mumble.
"Oh, right!" Sakura responded. "It wasn't there the last time you were here was it? It was something I wanted to build for Konoha, so Lady Tsunade helped me get it started. I just recently took over as head of the practice. I wanted to do something for kids that are having a hard time or feeling lost. I wanted to make a place where they can feel safe and not have to be hurting alone."
Sasuke felt images of his childhood flash through his mind. All that time by himself, his days spent wallowing in his own pain, plotting his revenge, thinking of every way he could have done something different to change his past, crying alone until he couldn’t feel anything anymore ... She was making a place where no other children had to go through that. "I think... that's great," he said meaningfully.
He saw the blush blooming on her cheeks until they were pinker than her hair. Then she stopped abruptly outside of a wooden fence. "Well, here we are!"
Before they even got up the steps the door burst open. "SASUKE!" A flash of yellow and orange appeared before them with his signature cheeky grin. "You didn't tell me you were coming back to town."
"I didn't tell anyone," Sasuke responded, holding out the bag of strawberries.
"Hmmm?" Naruto inspected the contents of the bag. "You brought us strawberries? That's kinda wierd for you, Sasuke."
"Those are actually from me," Sakura said taking the bag from him and handing them to Hinata just inside the doorway.
"Thank you so much, Sakura. I'll go prepare them and we can have some together," Hinata said softly with a smile.
They all went inside and the ladies continued on to the kitchen leaving Sasuke with Naruto in the foyer.
“So…what finally brought you back to Konoha?” Naruto asked.
“Your letter,” Sasuke answered honestly. “It got me thinking about what I want to do next. What my role is here in Konoha. I think… I’m ready to be officially reinstated as a shinobi. I want to help protect the things that are precious here.” His gaze drifted toward the entrance of the kitchen where he could see the girls laughing with each other over the counter.
Naruto’s eyes widened. “Really? Wow! That’s awesome, Sasuke. I’m sure Kakashi-sensei wouldn’t say no. And I bet that will make Sakura really happy, too, dattebayo.” He turned and headed into the living room with Sasuke following behind trying to ignore the implication in that last sentence.
“Your house is nice,” he observed as he sat on one of the cushions.
“Yeah, it’s a lot better than my old apartment, that’s for sure,” Naruto agreed as he took his seat on the other side of the low table. “But the best part is I get to see Hinata every day!” He gave Sasuke a big grin. “So… now that you’re back, are you gonna ask Sakura to marry you?” He teased.
Sasuke’s eyes popped open wide at the question and looked to the side trying to regain his composure. Before he could answer there was a “poof” and a dog wearing a vest and a ninja headband appeared in the foyer. “A ninja dog?”
Naruto got up to see why the dog was there. “It must be from Kakashi-sensei,” he inferred as he took the scroll from its mouth. “It’s for Sakura.”
Hearing her name, Sakura came in and took the scroll from Naruto. Within seconds of opening it the color drained from her face. “Oh no…”
***
“Kakashi-sensei!” Sakura exclaimed as she burst into his office with Sasuke and Naruto in tow. The door nearly swung off its hinges she had pushed it so hard in her panic.
“Ah, Sakura, I’d ask that you please be a little more gentle with my door,” Kakashi said from behind his desk in the Hokage’s office. “I can imagine you’re probably very concerned about Ino, though. And I see you have Naruto and Sasuke with you.” As usual he had this air of calm about him. It was a stark contrast to the panic that Sakura was exhibiting.
“Is she okay?” Sakura asked wringing her hands. Sai and Shikamaru were also in the room, exchanging uneasy glances.
“Well as I just finished explaining to Sai, it seems there was an attack at that meeting in Sunagakure regarding the new Children’s Therapy Center there. Ino is the only one still alive, but she’s in a coma. The Kazekage has requested that you come and tend to Ino. His medical nin can’t figure out why she won’t wake up.”
Sakura practically fell into the chair nearby. “All of them are dead? That’s horrible. They’ve been working so hard to open the center in Suna. Do they have any idea who’s behind it?”
“They said they are investigating but they haven’t found very much to go on yet,” Shikamaru piped up. “Apparently, they’re a bit short-handed right now. Temari said they have some festival they are getting ready for in the Land of Wind and a lot of their shinobi have been dispatched to act as security or escorts for officials. It would probably be a big help to them if you all looked into this further.”
“Speaking of escorts,” Kakashi added. “There’s no way I’m sending you out there alone. It’s clear someone has it in for us or for the center. You’ll be a primary target should they strike again. Sai wanted to go, but he’s already been assigned to leave first thing in the morning for a mission.”
“Can someone explain exactly what is going on?” Sasuke finally asked from the back of the room.
Kakashi quickly gave him a rundown of the events leading up to the attack. About a month or so ago some ninja from Suna had arrived in Konoha with questions about the Children’s Therapy Center. Apparently Gaara had heard about the center and its success in Konoha. As someone who struggled with immense trauma himself, the Kazekage liked the idea of having a place where children would have somewhere to work out their problems. So, Suna decided to start a therapy center as well. For the last few weeks, Ino had been working as the liaison between Suna and Konoha to help with the program.
But now… Someone had undone all their hard work by killing the council that was putting the center together and incapacitating Ino.
“It’s heartbreaking,” Sakura commented when Kakashi had finished explaining. “I can’t believe someone would do something so awful. But all the same, I’ll get ready to head to Sunagakure immediately. I can’t waste any time with Ino still in danger.”
“And I’ll go with her,” Naruto volunteered. “Those bastards,” he growled. “Trying to destroy something that we’ve been working so hard on with Gaara. I’ll find out who did this and make them pay, dattebayo.”
“You aren’t going anywhere,” Kakashi admonished. “You have more training to do to become the next Hokage.”
“But Kakashi-sensei, I never get to go anywhere anymore,” Naruto grumbled.
“Yes, you need to get used to delegating. You can’t always be the one to fix everything. Sometimes you need to send someone else so you can stay where you are needed most,” Kakashi said. “Besides, you just got married. You should stay here with Hinata.”
“I’ll go with her,” Sasuke piped up from the back of the room. Shikamaru eyed him suspicisously as he stepped toward Kakashi’s desk.
“I’m not sure how comfortable I feel about sending the traitor with Ugly,” Sai said from where he sat next to Sakura.
Sasuke visibly flinched at the term “traitor”.
“Sai, what have I told you about the nicknames during meetings?” Kakashi asked with a tired look in his eyes.
“Right, I’m sorry. I’m still learning when it’s appropriate to use them,” Sai explained.
“Nickname or not, I agree that may not be the best idea,” Shikamaru added. “Right now, Sasuke isn’t a shinobi of Konoha, we can’t send him on Konoha’s behalf.”
“Well, then I’ll go on my own behalf,” Sasuke said, “Call it the final stop on my journey of redemption. After that, I want to be reinstated as a shinobi of Konoha.”
All the others in the room exchanged surprised looks until Kakashi finally spoke up. His eyes creased with a smile that was hidden under his mask. “Very well, then, Sasuke. You’ll accompany Sakura to prove to me you’re ready to return to active duty. I’ll prepare the paperwork for you both.”
***
While Sakura packed her equipment, Sasuke stood at the village entrance with Naruto and Sai.
"Seems kinda unfair that you're leaving when you just got back," Naruto said. "But I'm glad you're going with Sakura. I know you'll keep her safe dattebayo."
"I, too, trust that you will be able to fulfill your mission," Sai said with a blank expression. However, for a moment his brows knitted. "I don't know if I trust you. But Sakura trusts you and I trust Sakura. Please bring Beautiful back safely."
"What about me?" Naruto asked incredulously.
"Why would I trust you?" Sai asked with his signature smile.
Sasuke just rolled his eyes as they bickered and nodded. "We'll be back soon. And we'll bring Ino," he reassured them.
Just then, Sakura walked up wearing her cloak and headband. She was adjusting her gloves as she approached. "Ready?" she asked. He could hear a slight edge to her voice. Was she nervous or excited? He honestly couldn't tell.
"Let's go," Sasuke responded and they took off running through the trees, jumping from branch to branch.
This went on for several hours as they made their way toward Suna. Now that he had been fully briefed on the situation, Sasuke thought about the possibilities of who could be behind the attack. He was mentally running through all the information they had so far while they soundlessly made their way through the forest. Occasionally, he would push chakra into his sharingan to make sure Sakura was still nearby.
Eventually he noticed her lagging a bit; never too far behind but enough that his caught his attention. He was about to ask if she needed a break when he heard something whiz through the air. In an instant his sharingan picked up an object flying toward his head. He leaned to one side to dodge but had forgotten about Sakura behind him.
"Ah!" her scream of pain tore through the air and immediately made him stop in his tracks. When he turned, he found Sakura on a branch several feet back, leaning heavily against the tree trunk. A strange looking kunai was sticking out of her thigh. While he was distracted someone jumped down onto the branch he was standing on and swung a similar kunai at his chest. He immediately stepped back and pulled his sword. He and the assailant met in a flurry of clanging metal, all the while he tried to keep an eye on Sakura. He wasn't used to traveling with another person and wasn't accustomed to keeping up with her.
"Sakura?" he called out concerned.
"I'll be fine," she responded. But then two other assailants dropped down onto her branch. He watched between blows as she fended them off and sent one flying into the trees with a loud "SHANAROO!"
Finally, he saw an opening to take down his own opponent with a slash to the leg. And then he ended his fight by shoving him off the branch.
Meanwhile, Sakura was carefully trading blows with kunai against her remaining attacker. They had her on the defensive and Sasuke could see that her footing wasn't very stable. She was favoring her right leg, so her injury from the kunai must have been bothering her considerably. He pushed with his rinnegan and switched places with her opponent, before turning sharply and aiming a flurry of shuriken at them.
Unfortunately, they managed to dodge the shuriken and simply whispered “the rinnegan,” in surprise before weaving signs and poofing out of existence.
"Well he left in a hurry once he saw your rinnegan," Sakura observed. She was panting and leaning heavily onto her right leg, inspecting the kunai lodged in her other thigh. With a grunt she pulled it out and frowned at the weapon. "A glass kunai?" She turned it over in her hand, looking closely.
Sasuke's eyes traced the wound in her thigh, dripping long ribbons of scarlet blood down her pale skin in the early morning light. Dammit. They'd only been gone for a matter of hours and he'd already failed to protect her. He bit back the words he wanted to say to himself and tried to focus instead on Sakura. He used his rinnegan to check her chakra signature. The radiant green was strangely dim. "Are you going to be okay? I saw you lagging before."
Sakura looked up at him with surprise and waved her hand in dismissal. "I'm fine. I guess I was just a little tired. I haven't slept in about 24 hours now. But that's not terribly unusual with my schedule at the center. I'll just close this up." She turned her attention to her wound and pushed her healing chakra into her hand to try to close it. But after a few seconds her chakra sputtered out and she grunted with the effort of trying to push it again.
Sasuke watched as the chakra in her body flickered weakly. "No," he concluded. "There's something else going on."
With a glance back at the kunai, Sakura let out a sigh. "The kunai. It was probably tipped with a poison or drug that's suppressing my chakra." She looked up at Sasuke. "I can make an antidote, but I'll need lab equipment. We aren't that far from Suna. I think I can make it." She quickly pulled out some gauze and dressed the wound until she could heal it properly.
"Then we'd better hurry," Sasuke said with a nod. "Before you get any worse."
"I'll be fine," She insisted, hopping nimbly to the ground.
Sasuke eyed her suspiciously. He wasn't buying it, but he hopped down next to her and they began to walk the remainder of the path to Suna. Within minutes Sakura was limping and moving slowly, breathing heavily. A check of her chakra showed that it was even dimmer than before. "Sakura..."
"I guess I'm a little worse off than I thought," she admitted. "At this rate, I'll be crawling into Suna. Dammit!" She struck the air with an angry fist, clearly frustrated at the situation. Typical of her to make a fuss when she should be trying to conserve her energy.
He rolled his eyes and walked over to her. "So annoying," he said to himself. He couldn't carry her since he only had one arm unless he was going to throw her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Instead he pulled out a summoning scroll, bit his thumb, and wove the signs to summon Garuda the giant hawk. "We'll fly the rest of the way. It's faster than walking and you can get some rest."
Sakura nodded wearily. "Right. Good idea."
He helped her up onto the giant bird and then hopped up behind her. They sat just behind the bird's head and then took off into the air, climbing above the clouds until they could see the whole forest below. The sun had finally finished rising and the sky was starting to turn a soft blue. In the distance he could see the tall rock formations and sandy plains of the Land of Wind.
Sakura, sitting in front of him, sat with her head bent forward. "I'm sorry," she said softly.
"For what?" he asked.
"For being annoying," she answered. "I got stronger so that I wouldn't be. But here I am finally traveling with you and I'm already a burden to you."
"Stop." Using his good arm, he pulled her back toward him until she was leaning against his chest, looking at him upside down. "It's my fault for not watching you more closely." Her face was flushed and feverish. It worried him to see her like that, but he kept his face placid and cool.
"Why did you come with me?" She asked, sleepily.
"Because I promised you. That we'd go together next time." He tapped her forehead with two of his fingers like he had when he had left the village two years ago and then watched as she smiled and fell asleep against him.
***
When they arrived in Suna, Sakura was rushed to the hospital by medic nin, leaving Sasuke to check in with the Kazekage. He entered the office with the paperwork Kakashi had given him in hand.
"Uchiha Sasuke, what an unexpected surprise to see you here again." Gaara sat behind his desk, looking up at Sasuke from behind tented fingers. He had visited Suna a while back when he had first started his journey of atonement.
"A surprise for me, too," Sasuke answered solemnly. He handed the paperwork to one of Gaara's advisors.
Gaara looked over the paperwork and then up at Sasuke again. "So, Haruno Sakura is here as well?"
"She is but we were ambushed in the woods just outside the Land of Wind. She was injured and passed out on the way here. So, she's being cared for at the hospital," Sasuke explained.
"An ambush?" One of Gaara’s advisors repeated in a concerned voice.
"That's right," Sasuke confirmed. "They seemed to be targeting Sakura and they used this." He set the glass kunai on Gaara's desk.
"Glass weapons..." Gaara said under his breath. "This is the same kind of kunai used by the assassin that attacked our Children's Therapy Center council meeting."
"I wondered if that might be the case," Sasuke agreed.
Gaara nodded and then called out to a shinobi standing in the corner with messy brown hair. "Fumi, show Mr. Uchiha the council meeting room. And then escort him to the hospital to see Miss Yamanaka and check on Miss Haruno." He turned to Sasuke, “Fumi is one of the few Suna shinobi not on a mission at the moment. He’s volunteered to act as your host and escort on my behalf while you are here.”
Sasuke nodded a greeting to the man before following him out into the hallway.
"And Sasuke," Gaara added before he closed the door, "I'm glad to see you're going back to Konoha. Naruto needs you there."
***
The meeting room in the hospital was completely wrecked. There was a table with several chairs, many of which were knocked over, a shattered vase, and paperwork scattered across the room. Sasuke inspected the windows on one side. "No signs of forced entry. Do you think it could be a Suna shinobi or someone else the council would have trusted?"
Fumi raised a brow. "We wondered the same thing. But the only evidence we found were glass shuriken lodged in the back wall and a glass kunai in Miss Yamanaka's shoulder. And as far as we know, none of our shinobi use glass weapons. It's completely unheard of."
"It is an odd choice," Sasuke agreed, inspecting the glass shuriken in the wall. "Who is on the council?"
"There were 3 other people aside from Miss Yamanaka. All of them were young medic nin, training to work in the center. Katsumi was the most promising. She was going to run the center after Miss Yamanaka returned to Konoha."
"Did any of them have enemies? Was there anyone against the plans to build the Therapy Center?"
"Honestly, no. Though, I'm not particularly knowledgeable about their personal lives. The center though... It does seem like we received some complaints about it," Fumi responded, biting his lip. He rubbed a hand through his limp brown hair.
"Complaints?" Sasuke repeated.
"It seems some people think that a therapy center for the children of Sunagakure is unnecessary. That it’s going to make the next generation of shinobi soft and vulnerable," Fumi responded. “What do you think of it?”
“I think… everyone could use some help sometimes,” Sasuke responded meaningfully. “And I think that killing these people for the sake of such an idea is a waste of life.”
Fumi raised his brows thoughtfully. “Not the kind of answer I was expecting from you.”
“What do you mean?” Sasuke asked.
“Nothing,” Fumi responded dismissively. “Shall we head to Ino’s room next?”
They made their way downstairs to the room where Ino lay, looking as if she were just peacefully asleep in her hospital bed. For Sasuke, it was strange seeing her look so fragile. She and Sakura had always been ready to tear each other’s heads off in their youth. He rolled his eyes just thinking about it. Still, he hoped that Sakura would be able to find a way to help her.
Following that thought they headed down the hall to the room where Sakura was being cared for. A medic was standing by her bed conversing with her in quiet tones. Her voice sounded drowsy and a little slurred, but he was pleased to see that she was awake again. He decided to wait by the door while they had their discussion.
“So that’s it,” Sakura was saying. “A drug that suppresses chakra. And you were able to extract and counteract it so quickly? I’m impressed.” Sakura blinked lazily and then said, “Can I see Ino’s charts please?”
“Miss Haruno, you just woke up from being drugged. Shouldn’t you be resting?” Fumi asked, inserting himself into the conversation.
Sakura snorted in response. “I could probably read medical charts in my sleep. Just give me the chart, please.” She held out her hand stubbornly
The medic looked through the folder of paperwork she was holding and handed Sakura a small set of pages. With a grunt, Sakura sat up to scan and flip through them. “Hmm… looks like you’ve already tried a lot of the things I was going to suggest.” She bit her lip in concentration.
“We can’t figure it out. All her levels appear normal, but she remains asleep,” the medic said. “We thought maybe the stress might have just exhausted her completely, but she doesn’t even respond to physical stimuli.”
“Hmmm… Keep her stable for now. I’ll come and take a closer look in the morning. I think I need some more rest first,” Sakura concluded leaning back onto the hospital bed.
“Of course.” The medic nin took the charts from her and then left the room.
“Better?” Sasuke asked walking over toward Fumi and Sakura.
“Much,” Sakura responded. “Though these hospital beds aren’t exactly the most comfortable.”
“I’ve arranged for some accommodations for you at an inn just down the street, if you think you’d be more comfortable there,” Fumi suggested. “It’s a pretty nice place. Very popular this time of year with the festival happening. I’m pretty sure the daimayo even stayed there once.”
“That sounds great,” Sakura replied, sitting back up. With some help from Sasuke, she got out of the bed and retrieved her belongings from the counter nearby.
They headed down the street with Fumi acting as their guide. All around people were hanging banners with raindrops drawn on them and streamers in shades of blue.
“The Ame Matsuri is a big ordeal here in Suna. We don’t get rain much here in the desert but in the spring, we usually get a downpour right around this week. So, there’s a big celebration for it,” Fumi explained, gesturing to the banners. “Hopefully, we get this mess solved before then.”
***
On the way to the inn, Sakura had been leaning on Fumi for support. She was still clearly exhausted and recovering her chakra, and Fumi was just trying to be a good host. But seeing her clinging to this guy's arm aggravated Sasuke.
Honestly, he knew he had no real right to feel that way. She wasn't actually his girlfriend, was she? Their relationship had been such a gray area for the last 2 years it was kind of unclear what they were. Still, he watched the two through narrowed eyes as they finally arrived at their destination.
"I'll leave you two to check in at the front desk," Fumi said with a nod. "Unless you still need any help getting around Miss Haruno?"
"I think I'll be alright. Thanks, Fumi." To Sasuke's relief, Sakura waved him off and headed to the check in.
He hung back, leaning against the back wall and checking out the inn lobby. It really was a nice place, built in a traditional ryokan style. Orchids adorned the lobby tables, and all the chairs were a dark crimson velvet.
"Wait, you mean there's only one room?" Sakura's shocked voice broke through his thoughts.
"My apologies ma'am, but it only listed you as the occupant. We didn't realize you would have a companion that would need a separate room," The receptionist explained. He looked up at Sakura through his wire-framed glasses, as he checked through the paperwork on the front desk. "We don't have any other rooms available unfortunately. We're completely booked due to the festival."
"It's alright," Sasuke interjected, walking forward. "I'm staying with her. She just got out of the hospital." He kept his face as neutral as possible as he explained. There was no way he was going to leave her alone in an inn after an attempt had been made on her life just earlier that day.
"Oh, well if that's the case," The receptionist said, looking relieved. "Here's the room key, sir. Please enjoy your stay and if you need anything at all let me know." He handed Sasuke a gold key with a numbered tag and he and Sakura headed down the hall to the room.
"Are you sure you're okay with this?" Sakura asked nervously. "Sharing a room seems kind of...intimate..."
112...113...Ah, room 114
The door unlocked with a satisfying click as he answered, "It's the best option right now. Someone has to keep an eye on you."
Sakura looked a little hurt by that response. Maybe he had worded it badly. "Right," she agreed, looking at the floor.
The room was unsurprisingly as lavish as the rest of the inn with a sitting area to the left and a set of sliding doors that opened to a bedroom on the right. A western style canopy bed draped with sheer curtains dominated the bedroom area and the entire suite was decorated in orchids and shades of red and gold.
"Wow," Sakura breathed. "This place really is fancy. I can't say that I've ever stayed somewhere this nice on a mission before. Either everywhere else was booked or Fumi is really trying to impress us!" When she got excited it reminded him of when they were genin. She still had a very child-like excitement for things.
He felt a smile tug at the corners of his mouth. But he turned away so she wouldn't see.
***
Later that night, Sasuke went to check on Sakura. She had decided to shower and then sleep for most of the afternoon hours, leaving him to his own devices. He had taken a walk through Suna to buy some food and process all the information he’d gathered so far.
As he slid open the door to the bedroom area, he found her sleeping peacefully on a pile of blankets and pillows, snoring softly. Her mouth was open just slightly and her pink hair splayed out on the pillows around her. But then he noticed what she was wearing. Her mission gear was snug and protective in nature. It held everything tightly in place. But now, she was wearing a simple yukata provided by the inn. It was loose, only tied at the waist, and showed off all the soft curves of her body. Her injured leg still wrapped in a bandage was exposed up to the thigh. He felt his color rising to his cheeks as his eyes traced her sleeping form.
He had always found her pretty. Her soft cherry-blossom-colored hair set her apart from everyone else in the ninja academy. It was something he noticed well before they had been placed on a team together. Of course, at the time, he had no interest in her. It was just an observation. She got interested when they started doing missions together. He found himself noticing her more, getting jealous if she paid too much attention to Naruto, and letting her hug him or help him walk when he was injured. As time went on, she became a distraction, a hindrance to his goals. And when he left, he was happy he had cut off the bonds he had with his teammates.
But it had haunted him. He had made so many poor choices, trying to deny his emotions and his bonds in order to satisfy his foolish goals. Blinded by his rage and hatred, he had forgotten what it really meant to care about anyone.
But since the war ended and he had been rediscovering what those bonds and emotions meant, his thoughts had been turning to her again. And how pretty she had become, not just physically, but in her heart as well.
And now, looking at her like this, he saw not just a pretty girl, but for the first time a beautiful woman.
"Sasuke-kun," she asked sleepily as she woke.
Her voice, saying his name like that made him blush even harder, and he had to turn away to hide it from her. He cleared his throat. "I thought you might be hungry," he said coolly. "I brought some food."
"Oh," she replied. "I guess I haven't eaten in a while. That was really thoughtful of you." She sat up and adjusted her yukata before pulling her hair up to tie it back.
"I'll just wait out here," he said, still trying not to look at her directly.
As he sat down at the table, trying to regain his composure. He had to stop being so stiff and cool toward her. But it made him so damn uncomfortable to acknowledge how she made him feel.
***
The next morning Sasuke woke to a knock at the door. He had slept on the couch in the sitting area so Sakura could have the bed to herself and so he could hear anyone entering the room. He lazily rolled to the side to crawl out of his blankets and opened the door to see a messy head of brown hair. Fumi.
"Good morning. I’m here to escort Miss Haruno to the hospital this morning," Fumi informed him.
Sasuke raised a brow. "She has an escort; Me," Sasuke responded, feeling annoyed. Did this guy really think he was going to let her wander around Suna alone right now?
"I guess I assumed you'd be investigating the attack further while she tended to Miss Yamanaka," Fumi replied flippantly.
Sasuke's mouth pressed into a hard line. "I can do both. So, don't worry about it." He tried not to sound threatening, but it was hard to mask the edge in his voice.
Just then Sakura popped into the room, fully dressed and ready to head out for the day. "Good morning Sasuke, Fumi," She waved cheerily. The bandage on her leg was gone so Sasuke assumed she'd healed the wound upon waking. How was she this awake and cheerful in the mornings? Must have been a side effect of her grueling hospital schedule. She seemed to sense the tension in the air between Sasuke and Fumi because next she said, "What's going on? Is Ino okay?"
"She's fine," Fumi answered. "I just came by to escort you to the hospital so you could take a look at her."
"Well, that was nice of you," Sakura returned with a smile. "I'll just grab my bag and we can go. Are you coming, Sasuke?"
Sasuke looked from Sakura to Fumi and back. "Yeah. Just give us a minute." He turned and went to the bathroom to change his clothes. He had a serious case of bedhead like always.
When he reemerged, Sakura was standing in front of the door waiting. "Where's Fumi?" he asked.
"Well," Sakura said, shyly tucking her hair behind her ear. "I told him we'd meet him there. Because... I wanted to walk there with you. We’re doing this together right?"
He breathed a silent sigh of relief. "Good. Something about that guy bothers me," Sasuke grumbled. "Let's go."
They walked out of the building side by side and headed for the hospital. The sky was overcast; strange to see out here in the desert. People had started to set up covered booths on either side of the streets in some areas preparing to sell goods during the festival.
"Wow, looks like it really will be raining soon," Sakura observed. "If we get this mission taken care of, maybe we can enjoy the festival?" She inclined her head toward him.
Sasuke despised festivals or large gatherings or events. Too many people and too much frivolous activity.
"We should focus on Ino and the investigation right now," He responded.
"Of course," Sakura agreed. "So, you mentioned you think someone on the inside might be involved in the attack? Like maybe a member of the shinobi force?" She changed the subject to the mission, turning more serious. "I think you might be right. The doctor I talked with yesterday said the formula for the drug used on me was just slightly off from a regulation immobilizer used by Suna shinobi. It's a common tool in their arsenals here."
"Did she say anything else? What about the unique ingredients?" Sasuke asked.
"I was still too out of it to really discuss the specifics at the time, but I'll see what I can find out today. And Sasuke," she stopped in her tracks for a moment. "Don't go too far from me today. I have a hunch and if I'm right, I might need your help later."
He paused and looked down at her. "Okay. I promise I'll stay close by."
She broke into a smile. "Thanks."
When they arrived at the hospital a flurry of doctors ran up to greet Sakura and within moments, she'd been whisked away, leaving Sasuke in the hospital lobby alone. His first instinct was to leave, but he remembered he had promised Sakura he wouldn't wander off. So, instead he wandered through the halls of the hospital until he found an unoccupied room full of books.
Hospitals always made him uncomfortable. There was something lonely and cold about them to him. He found a chair in the corner of the room to sit in and busied himself with watching the people setting up stalls outside the window for the festival. He wondered how exactly people threw a festival during a rainstorm as he observed the set up. He guessed if they stuck around long enough, they would find out.
It almost startled him when a young woman with glasses popped into the doorway just a little while later. “Are you Sasuke Uchiha?” she asked.
He nodded. “Yes.”
“Miss Haruno wants to see you on the third floor. Room 305 please,” the young woman informed him. She pointed him toward the stairwell and he easily found his way up to the room she had mentioned.
It was Ino’s room of course and Sakura and the same doctor they had seen the previous day were standing beside her bed, looking over charts together.
“Sasuke,” Sakura said acknowledging him. “We kept looking for some kind of physical reason she’s still unconscious, but nothing was coming up. All her readings are pretty much normal. The only other thing I can think of is that she might be under a genjutsu. But it would be a strange one. I can’t wake her with physical stimuli or by disrupting her chakra flow.”
“So this is what you said you might need me for. You want me to try to insert myself into her illusion with my sharingan,” Sasuke inferred.
“Can you?” Sakura asked. “If we could just get her to wake, we might be able to get more information about the attack.” She glanced nervously at her friend and then back at Sasuke.
“Shouldn’t be a problem,” he agreed. He moved to place his hand on Ino’s forehead and could immediately feel that her chakra was disturbed. But like Sakura had said, it was impossible to push into the flow in any way to disrupt it. It was strange for a genjutsu to not only disrupt a chakra flow but to also lock it. He took a deep breath, opened the mangekyo sharingan, and closed his eyes to push into Ino’s subconcious.
When he opened his eyes, he was standing in the meeting room where the Children’s Therapy Center council meeting was taking place and there in the chair on the far side of the room was Ino. She was fast asleep with her head resting on the table. He could also hear a faint melody playing from somewhere. It sounded like a sweet but sort of haunting flute.
This was strange for a genjutsu. Usually the person trapped in it is being manipulated or tormented in some way. But Ino was just sleeping blissfully.
He took a few cautious steps toward her. He couldn’t be sure there wasn’t some sort of trap.
“Ino?”
He was surprised to see her pale blue eyes flutter open. “Sasuke?” she said sleepily. “I’ve just been having the strangest dream.” Her eyes fluttered again as if she might slip back into unconsciousness.
“Ino,” he said, “Stay awake, okay?”
“Why?” She asked in confusion. She looked lazily around the room. “Doesn’t this song just make you feel so relaxed. Like you could just… fall… asleep…” She let out a yawn.
Sasuke quickly tried to think of something to motivate her to wake up. “Ino, Sai is worried about you. Don’t you care about him and his feelings?” Sasuke asked.
That seemed to get through to her a bit. She craned her head to look up to him. “Sai? Yeah… I bet he’d like it here too. You know, Sasuke. I always thought he kinda looked like you…”
Sasuke looked at Ino in confusion. It was like he was talking to a drunk person. "Ino, none of this is real. It's a genjutsu," Sasuke explained. But she just ignored him and nodded off to sleep again. Meanwhile that damned flute music was still trilling away in the background.
She was really trapped after all. She couldn’t dispel the genjutsu herself, she was unresponsive to physical pain or stimulus, and her chakra flow couldn’t be disrupted or manipulated. Perhaps if there was some way to weaken it her chakra until it could be manipulated?
Then an idea came to him. With a push of chakra to his sharingan he felt himself come out of the genjutsu and back to reality. He opened his eyes to see Sakura and the other doctor looking at him with concern.
"It's definitely a genjutsu. She’s literally asleep inside her mind and I can’t get her to stay conscious or dispel the genjutsu herself," he explained. "But I have an idea."
Sakura's brows raised. "What is it?"
"The chakra suppression drug that was used on you yesterday. Can you make it?" He asked.
The doctor quickly interjected, "I feel pretty confident we can. I have a list of the ingredients from our analysis. But it might take some time."
"I get it," Sakura said excitedly. "You think if we weaken her chakra flow, we might be able to disrupt it enough to break the genjutsu!"
Sasuke nodded and Sakura and the other doctor hurried out of the room to work on the drug. Within a few hours they returned, and Sakura carefully administered the drug to Ino in a syringe. "Now we just wait until her chakra is weak enough to manipulate," she thought aloud. “It shouldn’t take long. As I recall my chakra I think I can take it from here Mai," she reassured the doctor who had been accompanying her. Mai nodded and left the room leaving Sakura and Sasuke alone with their comrade.
Sasuke stood up from the chair he'd been sitting in and awkwardly mumbled. "You should sit down for a bit. You haven't stopped moving since you got up this morning." He realized it was an uncharacteristically gentlemanly gesture for him to offer her his seat, but he was making an effort for her sake.
"Oh, I guess you're right," Sakura said. "Sometimes I honestly get so absorbed in my work, I don't even notice how long I've been at it." She sat down in the chair while he leaned casually against the wall. "Sasuke, I'm glad you came with me. You've been a big help to me already."
Sasuke's eyes narrowed beneath his bangs. That wasn't true. It was his fault she'd been injured the day before. And he tried not to think about all the ways he had hurt her previously in his darker days. The times he'd rejected her, the horrible genjutsu he'd used on her, the time he'd actually nearly killed her... He bit back his shame and tried to focus on the moment. "It's the least I can do," he said.
They sat in companionable quiet after that. It was strange, but Sakura didn't seem to mind his tendency to not say much. Naruto and the others were constantly asking what he was thinking, bothered by his lack of communication. But Sakura seemed content to just be with him.
Eventually, she said, "Well, I think it's been long enough. Let's give this a shot." She approached the bed and wove the necessary hand signs. Then speaking, "Release," she pushed her chakra into Ino's chakra flow and Ino's eyes fluttered open.
"Sakura?" she asked weakly.
"Ino!" Sakura got so excited that she hugged Ino immediately, surprising the blonde. “It worked!”
"Get off me, billboard brow. What's gotten into you?" She asked with a weak laugh. "Ugh and why do I feel like garbage?"
"Ino, you've been asleep for 3 days," Sakura explained, pulling away and resuming her professional air. "You were trapped in a genjutsu. Do you remember anything about it?"
Ino looked far off for a few seconds as if she were very deep in thought, then her face fell. "Oh no. The council meeting. Katsumi and the others..." Her eyes were pale blue pools of grief. "There was someone. I had sensed someone approaching the meeting room. And I heard this strange music, like a flute? I stood to go investigate but before I could get past the table he was already through the door."
"What did he look like? Can you tell us anything about him?" Sakura asked.
"It's strange... he was just a shadow. The next thing I remember was falling asleep and just having the best dream. And... Sasuke?" She explained, shaking her head in confusion.
"The genjutsu must have been cast before the attacker entered the room, to shield his identity and incapacitate the others," Sasuke guessed. "That flute you heard. I heard one in your genjutsu. It was probably the trigger."
"Sasuke?!" Ino repeated with excited confusion. "What are you doing here?"
"He came with me to investigate the attack and bring you back to Konoha," Sakura explained, hurriedly. "Is there anything at all you can tell us about the attacker? Anything you noticed could be helpful."
"Okay, we're putting a pin in this Sasuke conversation, though," Ino said with a sly look at Sakura. "Hmm.... let's see. I can tell you that the chakra didn't feel unfamiliar after being here for the past two weeks, but I can’t quite identify whose it was. It's likely it was someone I passed by or was near every day."
"That confirms our suspicion of it being an inside job," Sasuke said.
“I can also tell you that I had been receiving threats,” Ino added.
“What? Why didn’t you tell us that?” Sakura demanded.
“I mean I didn’t really take it seriously,” Ino said, rolling her eyes. “As if I really expected anyone to actually hurt me or anyone working on a children’s therapy center. But in hindsight, I probably should have said something.”
“Well there’s not much we can do about it now. What kind of threats were you getting?” Sasuke asked.
“Someone was leaving notes under my hotel room door in my first week here. Telling me not to build the center and to leave Suna. But they stopped after the first week, so I figured whoever it was got over it,” Ino explained. “Never thought they’d actually plot to take out the whole council.”
“Do you still have the notes?” Sakura asked, hopeful.
"Ah!" Ino gasped with pain and held her head. “No, I threw them away once I thought we were in the clear. Oh, gosh… I can’t believe this happened…”
"I think that's enough talking for now," Sakura said. "I'm going to get the medicine to counter the chakra suppression drug and then I want you to get some rest."
Later in the hospital cafeteria Sakura and Sasuke discussed the mission over a late lunch. Between bites of her sandwich, Sakura pulled out a file and spread the papers across the table. "So, here's the ingredients for the chakra suppression drug and the ingredients for the regulation immobilizer. See this one here?"
"Curly gray root?" Sasuke asked. What a stupid name for a plant, honestly.
"Yeah, that's the one," Sakura said. "It requires a specific type of soil to grow and can only be found in one place near here." She pulled out a map from the file as well and showed him a small area just a short distance from the eastern edge of Suna. "We may need to investigate that area to look for any more clues or information."
"It doesn't grow anywhere else?" he asked.
"It's a really difficult plant to cultivate. It requires specific conditions that are hard to replicate. I know because I've tried before with Lady Tsunade. This is the only place it could have been gathered from. So that makes it a prime area for possible information."
Sasuke nodded in agreement. Then his mind changed gears. "The flute," he said, "I think I've heard of a flute that can be used to produce genjutsu before. But you're not going to like who I'll have to ask about it."
Sakura looked uncomfortably up at Sasuke. "It's Orochimaru, isn't it? Is there anything shady that guy hasn't been involved with?"
"I know he's not an ideal source, but he does have a lot of valuable information," Sasuke said with a smirk.
"You're right," Sakura agreed. "I don't like it. But you're right." She took another bite of her sandwich. “I can’t believe someone would be so dead set against building a children’s therapy center that they would go this far. I just don’t understand.”
Sasuke thought back to his conversation with Fumi from the previous day. “Remember what they taught us at the academy? A shinobi must never show their emotions?”
Sakura looked back at him darkly. “I haven’t heard that rule in a long time. Not since our early days as genin.”
“Some people might not want that kind of thinking to change,” Sasuke said.
Just then Fumi appeared at the table holding an apple. "Good afternoon. Mind if I join you?" He looked down at the paperwork in front of them and his eyes fell on the map in front of them. "Looks like you’re making progress with your investigation. You really are a brilliant mind, Sakura."
Sakura blushed a bit and hurriedly put the papers away. "Oh, not at all," she mumbled awkwardly. "I'm just doing my job. Please, have a seat."
Sasuke rolled his eyes. Why was she always so damn polite?
"Don't be so modest, Miss Haruno. So, what have you found out so far?" Fumi asked, taking a bite from the apple he was holding.
"Well-" Sakura began, but Sasuke cut her off.
"I don't think that's such a good idea, actually," he said. "We don’t know who we can trust right now."
Fumi looked taken aback, his mouth hanging slack. "You don’t think you can trust me? Have I made that bad of an impression?” Fumi asked, running a hand through his messy hair.
"I think Sasuke is just trying to air on the side of caution," Sakura said, hastily trying to diffuse the situation. "I don't think he was accusing you of anything."
Fumi's eyes shifted from Sasuke to Sakura. "Hm. Well as a fellow shinobi I can appreciate your caution, but please remember that I'm supposed to be assisting you here, not only as a shinobi but also as your host. I only want to help in any way that I can so Lord Gaara and the others can focus on the festivities."
"Right, of course we know that," Sakura said with a pointed look at Sasuke.
"Speaking of the festivities," Fumi continued, "I hope that once we get this incident cleared up, you'll be able to enjoy the Ame Matsuri. There's a lot of fun events planned for the weekend."
"Should we really be thinking about that right now?" Sasuke asked flatly.
There was a slight sizzle in the air between him and Fumi and Sakura looked visibly uncomfortable.
"The festival sounds like a lot of fun, but Sasuke is probably right that we should focus on the mission for now," she said with a halfhearted chuckle.
Fumi gritted his teeth for a moment and then continued. "Actually, I have someone I want to introduce you to this afternoon, who may know more about the attack. The first person to arrive at the scene after the incident."
Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "Why didn't you bring this up before; when we spoke yesterday?"
"Well," Fumi said, "Up until this morning he was being held by order of the Kazekage so he could write up a formal report of the incident. Standard procedure for events like this."
Sasuke didn’t feel satisfied with that response. He shot Sakura a meaningful look.
"How about Sasuke and I finish up here and then we'll meet you in the lobby? Maybe give us 10 minutes?" Sakura asked with a sweet smile.
"Sure," Fumi said. He shot a bothered expression at Sasuke. "I'll see you then."
He got up to leave and Sakura immediately turned to Sasuke. "What was that all about?"
"I don't trust him," Sasuke said. "There's something off about that guy."
"Off how?" Sakura asked. Her tone seemed slightly annoyed. "As far as I can tell he's been nothing but kind and helpful."
"A little too kind and helpful, don't you think?" Sasuke asked. "He’s been with us almost the entire time we’ve been in the village and some of the things he has said seem… suspicious."
"Sasuke, he's our host here. Of course, he’s going to be glued to us," Sakura said. "And while I admit he seems to be a little cheerful considering 3 people just died, it could be that this is just how he processes grief. I don't understand why you're being so harsh."
“Sakura,” he said firmly, “I’m just saying we should be wary of him.”
“And I’m agreeing with you,” Sakura said, clearly trying to keep her tone even. “But it would be easier to keep an eye on him if we are with him and if you could stop being so rude to him.”
Sasuke stood up, his ire finally engaged. "I'm going back to the inn," he said before he could say anything else.
"What? You aren't coming with us?" She asked, her voice edged with irritation and surprise.
"I just need some time to myself," he said, refusing to look her in the eye. He headed for the doorway before he could say something he’d regret.
And he heard her call after him, “But Sasuke, we’re supposed to be doing this together!”
***
Sasuke did go back to the inn, but it wasn't until late that evening. He'd taken a long walk through Suna to try to cool his head. What was it about Fumi that bothered him so much? He seemed like an average guy. And Sakura was correct in saying that he had been helpful. But there was something that bothered him. It was like a vague memory he couldn’t recall, just out of reach.
It was, possibly, that he was a little jealous. Fumi had this easygoing attitude. He was friendly and said such kind things to Sakura with such ease. He had walked her to the inn from the hospital the previous day and made her blush today. And that irritated Sasuke almost more than anything else he’d done. Why was it that when it came to her, his emotions were completely irrational?
Stopping under a cactus, he scrawled a quick note about the flute to Orochimaru and sent it out with his hawk. Then, he finally headed back to the inn. On his way the gray sky rumbled with thunder and a few drops began to fall.
When he entered their room, he was surprised to see that Sakura wasn't back yet. It had been hours since he'd left the hospital. He sat down at the table to eat an onigiri he had picked up on the way home and tried not to think about where Sakura was.
In hindsight, he should not have left her alone even if he was annoyed. Especially with that guy. But he tried not to jump to conclusions, remembering what Sakura had said to him earlier. Hopefully, he was overreacting, and they had just gotten distracted by something or perhaps caught in the rain somewhere?
He thought to himself that it would be a wonder if Kakashi-sensei and Naruto didn't give him an earful when he got back to the village if they found out that he had left Sakura alone in a village where she was being targeted. And he would deserve it really. It had grown dark and he was about to get up and go look for her when he heard a tap on the window of the sitting area.
He went to open it to find his hawk soaking-wet on the windowsill holding out a note for him. He took the damp paper and opened it to reveal a message from Orochimaru.
"Sasuke,
Coming to me for information once again I see. Well, here you are. I do in fact remember that flute. It was called the Neruno Flute and I believe I traded it for information regarding rare herbs from the Land of Wind. Unfortunately, I can't seem to remember the young man's name, but I do happen to remember his glass sword. A very unique weapon. I feel fairly certain you were present when that exchange took place. Though it was during one of those periods when we were working on your poison resistance so you might have been a bit out of it at the time. I do hope this helped at least somewhat.
~Orochimaru"
Now that it was mentioned, Sasuke did remember that meeting. Orochimaru was right, he was very sick at the time. Perhaps that's why until now, he couldn't remember. And even now, the memory was hazy at best. But one thing was for sure, he remembered seeing Orochimaru walk by his room talking about the flute with a man with messy brown hair.
Fumi.
Sasuke immediately grabbed his cloak and raced out of the inn. If Sakura was alone with that man, she was in grave danger. He nearly knocked over a young man in the lobby as he hurried out of the inn toward the place where the curly gray root grew. That's where he would start looking for her.
***
The rain had drizzled out to a calm, cloudy evening as he barreled out of town at the highest speed he could muster. It didn't take long for him to reach his destination; a small pond settled against a cavern and surrounded by a multitude of dark green plants with curling leaves. There were two shinboi standing guard just outside the cave, but there were no traces of Sakura or Fumi.
He hid himself behind a nearby rock and scanned the area with his rinnegan, looking for Sakura's chakra signature. He spotted the faintest soft green from deep in the cavern. That was enough for him to go ahead and make a move. But just as he was strategizing there was an explosion from the side of the cavern. Rock and dust flew through the air, splashing into the pond and crushing plants in the wake. The shinobi who had been standing guard outside the cave startled and looked at one another with concern.
And there, rising from the rubble, was Sakura. She was battered and bruised, but clearly full of fighting spirit and thankfully, in one piece. As she stood panting atop the rocks, glass spikes shot up out of the ground. She deftly leapt away in time to avoid being impaled but was followed with a volley of glass shuriken.
Without any hesitation, Sasuke hurried over to her, activating the ribcage of his susanoo in time to shield them both.
"Sasuke?" She asked in shock. She was holding her left leg where blood poured out of an open wound. "How did you-"
"Fumi," Sasuke interrupted her as he watched their opponent carefully walk out of the opening in the side of the cave. He carried a long glass sword glinting in the misty light of the moon.
"That’s right. He’s been running a small faction out here in the desert planning to destroy not only the therapy center in Suna but the one in Konoha too," Sakura explained quickly. "He uses lightning release and sand to produce glass jutsu and weapons. I've never seen anything like it before."
Sasuke released the susanoo, not wanting to overuse the mangekyo sharingan.
"Thank you, Sakura, for that introduction," the mysterious man said. He strode toward them confidently, swinging the glass blade out to the side. "Sasuke Uchiha, I believe we have actually met once before."
"Funny, I had the hardest time remembering," Sasuke said, helping Sakura up off the ground. "Guess you weren't that memorable."
The man gritted his teeth some. "Well I'll just have to jog your memory!" He wove signs and released lightning into the ground, sending up jagged glass shapes to try to ensnare the pair of Konoha ninja. After dogding, Sasuke pulled his blade and took a swing at the glass. It was practically rock solid; tempered and not easy to break. His sword bounced off it, leaving only a small chip in the glass.
Well, this was going to be interesting. He heard Sakura trading blows with someone to his left and realized that the guards from the cave entrance had made it to their current location. Sasuke knew she excelled at hand-to-hand combat. "Sakura, take care of the guards. I'll take care of Fumi," he said.
"Okay," she replied as she swept one of the guards' feet out from under him. They weren't particularly skilled shinobi. Or at least they didn't seem to use much ninjutsu. She could take care of them easily and join him in taking down the bigger threat.
He closed the distance between himself and Fumi quickly and the two swung their swords together with a "clank". In the rebound he twisted and aimed the blade for Fumi's ribs, but his opponent was faster and dodged the blow. They continued like this, until Sasuke heard Fumi's sword crack. It had taken too many blows in the same spot and spiderweb-like fractures were forming along the blade. Sasuke brought his sword down on the glass blade once more and it finally shattered. In Fumi's shock over the broken sword, Sasuke found an opening for a well-placed kick and sent Fumi into the rock wall of the cave behind him.
At this point Sasuke was panting and bleeding from several cuts along his left shoulder. He was pretty much used to fighting without his left arm now, but he had still left it open to a few blows without realizing it. Beyond that, his fast-paced run and the susanoo had worn on him.
Meanwhile, Fumi recovered from his collision with the wall and before Sasuke could make his next move, he began weaving signs for lightning release again. "Secret Ninja Art: Glass Fortress!" He released the lightning into the ground and tall jagged glass walls sprung up around him, encasing him within a spiked glass cube. Even within his glass barrier, though, Fumi wasn't looking too good. There was no telling how rough Sakura had been on him and his fight with Sasuke had clearly injured him further.
"Sasuke!" Sakura had finally caught up to him. "Are you alright?" She asked looking at his shoulder.
"I'm fine," he said firmly. "Sakura, you're still good with shuriken, right?"
"What a question!" She exclaimed irritably, crossing her arms. "Of course, I am."
"The glass he uses is tough but not impenetrable. It just takes a lot of repeated blows to crack it. I can distract him from up close if you can use the shuriken from a distance to puncture the glass," He quickly explained.
"I'll do you one better," Sakura said with a gleam in her eye. She whispered some instructions to him and then they set their plan in motion.
Sakura began flinging what shuriken she had on hand, while Sasuke made his way to the glass fortress. All the while Fumi was sending up glass barbs from below the sand using his jutsu. Sasuke dodged all of them expertly, using his sharingan to discern the best path to take. When he finally got close enough, he unleashed a fireball jutsu on the glass fortress.
Fumi laughed from within his shield, "It's useless. This glass is stronger than any of your weapons and it certainly won't burn in your fire jutsu."
Sakura was steadily making a few small chips in the glass from her location and Sasuke kept at it with the fireballs as well.
"You all will run out of weapons and chakra before you break this down," Fumi said haughtily. With a shove of his hand into the sand, he sent a glass spike right at Sakura. It shot out of the ground and right through her arm before she even realized it.
Her last shuriken, however, hit its mark and the glass finally cracked, sending webbed fractures across the surface. It was time for the final move. Sasuke paused and switched to a water style jutsu; raging waves. The water spewed forth from his mouth like an angry waterfall, cold and cruel it washed over the glass. Within moments the rapid cooling of the hot glass combined with all the fractures Sakura made caused the fortress to completely shatter.
Sasuke shielded his eyes as fragments of the glass flew in every direction. Sakura's idea had worked! He glanced back to check on her and she shot him a strained smile from where she stood with her arm impaled on the glass spike.
Fumi emerged from the wreckage of the glass. He was scraped and scratched from head to toe and glass shards clung to his skin and clothes. "Well, well... wasn't that clever of you. I didn't anticipate you would use fire and water techniques." He was in horrible shape at this point, his breathing ragged. “You think you’ve won,” he said. “But you have doomed the way of the shinobi. With your alliances and therapy centers and dreams of peace. All you’ve done is ruin our way of life.” Before he could take another step, he fell to the ground, unable to move any more.
Sasuke breathed an audible sigh of relief and walked over to where he lay. “We aren’t ruining anything,” Sasuke said, looking down at the man with pity. “We’re trying to make it better.”
Fumi squinted at Sasuke as though he still didn’t understand and then promptly lost consciousness. Sasuke quickly bound him with some chord he’d been carrying to make sure he didn’t wake up and run off or something. Suna could deal with him when they got back to town.
A peal of thunder cracked overhead as he made his way over to Sakura. She was having a hard time getting her arm off of the glass spike. It was a little too tall for her. She groaned with the effort, standing on her tiptoes to try to free herself, her blood dripping down the clear glass. Then in frustration she punched the glass with a cry of rage and just leaned against it.
"Here," Sasuke offered, trying to reach for her to help.
"Don't touch me!" she yelled, shoving him away.
Sasuke stood completely shocked. That was the first time in his life she had ever shoved him away from her. He looked down at the sand as if he could find the words to say to her there. But instead he just saw the first drops of the next rainstorm rolling through. "Sakura..."
"Why did you leave me? I thought we were doing this together this time?" She finally said. "I was... so happy to have you with me. But as usual, you got angry about something and disappeared. Did you know I was late to meeting up with Fumi because I was looking for you?"
Sasuke remained silent focused on the ground as she spoke.
"You are, and always have been, more important to me than even my duty as a shinobi. I have... more than once... been willing to give up everything for you," her voice cracked with a sob. This was clearly about more than just him leaving her alone in the hospital cafeteria today. It was years of pain and suffering she hadn't been able to express to him; her broken heart being laid bare. “And then,” she continued in a quivering voice, “Of course, once I met up with him, he led me out of the city and injected me with that damn chakra suppressant. It’s a good thing I had a dose of the antidote on me.”
The rain was coming down more steadily now; the air quiet save for the gentle patter of the rain on the sand and the soft sobbing coming from Sakura.
"Sakura," he started again. "I... I'm sorry." He took a step toward her.
"Are you?" Sakura asked, softly.
Sasuke hesitantly reached out to lift her chin so she was looking into his face. Her beautiful green eyes were red rimmed and streaming with tears. With his thumb he gently wiped some of them away. "I am. For everything."
She sniffed and blinked some more tears from her eyes as he stared down at her. "Sasuke... I was afraid you weren't coming back. Every time you go... I'm afraid I won't see you again."
He wrapped his arm around her mid-section and gently lifted her so she could free her arm from the glass spike. She made a little squeak of pain in between her sobs as she came free and then quickly wrapped both of her arms around his neck as he placed her feet back on the ground. She was so warm; even with the two of them soaked through in the pouring rain. He held her fast against him, taking in the gentle scent of her hair as she sobbed onto his shoulder.
"I will always come back to you," he whispered into her hair.
She pulled back almost instantly, shocked at his words.
Sasuke had even shocked himself and looked down at the sand again to try to hide his growing blush behind his bangs. "If you'll have me, that is."
She took her good arm and brushed his bangs away from his eyes so that she was really looking him fully in the face. "Idiot… As if I could do anything else," she said with a soft smile.
The air between them seemed to crackle with an electricity that Sasuke had never experienced before. He was suddenly very aware of how close they were, where their bodies were touching. It was like when he had seen her in her yukata the night before. It was intoxicating. Before he even realized it, he was leaning closer to her and she was leaning closer to him. And their lips touched lightly in a sweet, soft kiss. It was gentle but exhilarating, and he wanted to do it again. So, he did.
She let out a surprised squeak at the second kiss; a sound which just made him hungry for more of her. He moved his hand from her waist to tangle it in her hair just at the nape of her neck. Meanwhile her hands fluttered awkwardly until they finally landed on his waist, pulling him close. And they kissed in the rain in the desert, bloody and battered, and nothing could have been more perfect.