Quote of the chapter: "I'm not crazy, I'm just a little impaired. I know right now, you don't care." -Unwell by Matchbox 20

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         cнαpтer 18

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Sparks of light caused Sakura to wake up from her slumber. She blinked a couple of times before her eyesight cleared.

"Hey Sakura-chan, you're finally awake! How 'ya feeling? I have so much to tell you, so we've been..."

The first thing she engulfed was Naruto telling various stories that she could not even understand by the speed and volume of his voice.

"How long was I out?" Sakura questioned and sat up, carressing her forehead. "What the hell happened? Where's Kaka-sensei and Sasuke-kun?"

"Woah woah, chill Sakura-chan. You need to rest." Naruto warned as he placed her back to her laying position.

"Naruto, answer my questions."

"Okay, so you've been out for two days and-"

"Two days?!" Sakura exclaimed. "We gotta go, the mission is-"

"Sakura-chan, what did I say?" Naruto asked which made Sakura calm down.

"I'm sorry, it's just too much pressure."

"That's why you need to rest, dattebayo." He sent her a worried look. "Don't you remember anything?"

Sakuea shrugged. "All I remember is being locked in a dark room and I had wounds everywhere then I heard your voices and blacked out." This made Sakura observe her surroudings.

They were in a somewhat clinic. Despite the room's wide size, there was not much furniture or items inside. Only a couple of beds, a couch, desks and closets filled with medicine. Her wounds were treated, but not quite finished so she used her healing abilities to patch herself up-which also meant that her chakra and energy were back.

"Who treated me? How'd you release me from the chains? And who got out of the poison?"

Naruto sighed, too much questions again. He felt that he was the one being interrogated than, supposedly, Sakura. "Let me explain first before you ask questions."

Sakura gave a curt nod and agreed to his offer.

"First of all, we are in the Hidden Waterfall Village which is halfway to Konoha. The doctor here said that you are in no condition of travelling after at least fourty hours of rest so we sent a message to Tsunade-baachan that the mission would take a few days more so that you can rest. Kaka-sensei and Teme are out to get food."

As if on cue, Sasuke and Kakashi walked inside the door with plastic bags on their hands.

"Morning Sakura." Kakashi greeted as he dropped the bags on top of the desk and Sasuke did so too.

Naruto left his seat and went over the bags, searching for instant ramen.

Sakura smiled back in return and Sasuke gave Naruto his favorite food. "Kaka-sensei, when are we leaving?"

"My, my, urging to leave, are we?" Kakashi joked and sat down at the chair beside her bed as Naruto dug in his food.

"It's been two days or so, I can move now. Heck, I can even heal myself and you guys."

"Don't stress yourself, Sakura. Do you even know how worried we were when you were gone?" Kakashi arched an eyebrow as Sakura sat properly and shook her head.

"I even turned on my mangekyou sharingan. Well, Naruto almost released one-tail of his kyuubi and wreck the house you were caged in. Sasuke had killed all of the enemies in an instant." Kakashi chuckled in memory.

To say, Sakura was indeed shocked. "Were they that tough?"

"Nah, we're just angry." Naruto answered after swallowing and ate another set of noodles.

That thought made Sakura smile. It was good to feel important, but then self-esteem just had to lessen when she realized that she was just a medic in the team or maybe just a burden.

"Did you see the trail I made?"

Kakashi gave a curt nod. "I'm proud of you, Sakura." He acknowledged as he held her shoulder.

"You're like a father to me, thanks Kaka-sensei."

When they both sent grins to each other, the latter interrupted.

"Oi, oi, he's too young for you old man!"

"Dobe has a point." Sasuke supported, causing Kakashi to twitch both his male students.

"I'm not that old." He defended. "Right, Sakura?"

"Nope." Sakura stuck her tongue out playfully and Kakashi sulked.

Despite the problems they're still facing, Sakura was happy that at least a part of the old times has been revived.

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At that night, Kakashi declared that they would be leaving the next day by noon due to Sakura's persuasive antics.

When they geared up and went out, Kakashi gave them warnings.

"Again, if we would be fighting them like last time, I want you to let your guard down." He stated with a stern look.

"What if we can't?" Sasuke spoke up.

"Make it happen."

"Why? Wouldn't we lose if we aren't alert?"

"It's not it, we need more information about them."

They were in a public place wherein there are full of noise at the bustling streets with the crowded people-a perfect place to speak a secretive content and only the people beside you would hear. They just had eaten supper so they decided to walk around.

Kakashi made himself clear. "If any case and if the fight got worse, you know what to do."

The three nodded as they went back to the clinic and took their last night before leaving the next day.

Once they reached the clinic, Kakashi head over the counter and payed for the services, including the fact that they have been staying their like in a hotel. Naruto immediately jumped over the bed and slept soundly.

Sakura went to bed as well after freshing up and Sasuke probably did so too.

But a couple of minutes passed by, Sakura still could not enter dreamland. She slept for fourty-eight hours so she most likely won't be sleepy.

Sighing in defeat, she quietly removed the soft covers as she sneaked out of the room.

She heard that there was a terrace at the end of the hall so she wanted to check it out.

The owner of the small hospital or a huge clinic wanted the patients to feel at least a glimpse of home so he decided to put up a terrace.

Or so Sakura heard from two old ladies talking at the waiting area.

Though one thing is for sure, there IS a terrace just near the room they were staying.

Sakura carefully opened the door and sat down on one of the old-fashioned chairs. She stared at the magnificent view. The moon shined brightly with dark fog partly covering it and was accompanied by the luminous stars above.

Not much far from where Sakura was, she could see waterfalls around the city. Hence, it is called the waterfall village. It was glorious to see since the lightness brought by the sky was able to sparkle the water, making it more lively to the eyes.

She watched the water flow down to fall as it splashed the river, causing huge amount of ripples and waves.

By seeing that, she wondered if she is like the water. There is always that some point in life wherein you would fall, but it is either you would stay and evaporate or flow away.

And now, Sakura is practically on the verge of falling. There are two unknown answers. The first would be if she would cling to the past or accept life and move on to the next. The second? If someone will catch her when she falls.

A knock from the door interrupted Sakura's thoughts as she gave her permission for the person to come in.

"What are you doing here Sasuke-kun?"

He shrugged his shoulders, placing the bottle of water on the table and taking out the medicine case inside his jacket. "I'm in-charge of the night shift in letting you take your medicine."

"How'd you know I was here?"

"Saw a flash of pink."

Sakura motioned Sasuke to take a seat as she gave a slight nod. "Thanks." She already knew what kind of pills she needed from her medication since Kakashi also reminded a while ago.

"You?"

After swallowing the pills with the last sip of water, Sakura returned the cap of the bottle and glanced at Sasuke before the moon. "Just needed fresh air to think."

Sasuke nodded back as acknowledgement and stared at the sky as well.

Silence of tranquility passed by a few minutes before Sakura had the courage to speak. "I'm sorry, I should've accepted your apology before. I overreacted. I was being selfish, I didn't think about your point of view."

Even though Sasuke had to admit that at some terms her message was right, he still shook his head. "I apologize too. I just didn't want anyone to undergo the pain I felt." From that point, Sasuke refused to even face Sakura.

Smiling, Sakura responded. "Thank you for caring."

Once the wind had taken over the noise, Sasuke sealed his eyes as he felt a cool breeze from his cheeks.

Taking a peek of Sakura's face to see if she was asleep, it was just then Sasuke noticed that Sakura's features turned upside down. Her head was slightly facing the ground while her hands were crumpled up together. In addition, the jolly glint in her eyes and her angelic smile was gone.

She was completely deep in thought.

"You okay?"

"Yeah." Sakura grinned fakely.

With the times he spent with Sai, and being a realist as himself, he could already see through people's expressions. He did not even need his sharingan to uncover the mask.

Sakura tensed when she realized that Sasuke had been staring at her with a stern look, demanding her to reveal the truth. It was a bit weird for Sakura since her cheeks were boiling from heat in shyness.

A while ago she was like Tenten since she was defensive about herself then she turned into Ino, being dramatic about things in life, and now she was Hinata, the timid girl.

Three in one.

Due to too much tension, Sakura forced herself to say. "I'm simply a problem."

Sasuke cocked an eyebrow for Sakura to explain further.

"All my life I've been a problem to everyone. I know I've trained hard but I still think I'm the one causing trouble. That I'm bringing people down. Like what happened when I was kidnapped-" Sakura burried her head on the top of her knees as her arms wrapped her legs. "-I feel that I'm a burden."

Ever since the day she was taken, her mindset returned to the old Sakura.

She felt like a burden to the team. She failed her teammates once again. She only caused trouble and that thought had an even more impact of pain than the physical torture she received. It was no lie that she cried because it was true no matter how hard she tried-she was born and will always be a problem.

Sakura knew Sasuke was not the appropriate person to talk to about this. She knew that he would not understand because it is girl problems. She knew that he would not probably care nor help, but he was the one who encouraged. And he was the one who had his ears opened for listening.

It was a good feeling to let it out though, as if half of her body weight had been released from her heart.

"I'm sorry for dragging you into my problems. Don't worry, I'll get over it soon." She exhaled.

"You're not a problem. You're the solution."

That caught Sakura's attention. She averted her gaze towards Sasuke with her mind calculating.

"You help and save people." Sasuke stood up and held the empty plastic bottle while looking at the pinkette. "You've grown better, Sakura." His face was emotionless, but his eyes states otherwise.

Four words, and it was already enough to return Sakura's confidence and self-esteem back to its original place.

Sakura also jumped up as she watched the retreating figure. Her heart felt warm inside and finally, her exhilarating smile was back all thanks to Sasuke.

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//PUBLISHED.5.14.15//

Still working on the new story multi-tasking haha

Sakura Hiden (so far 48% i've read) is awesome♡

Thanks for reading & voting & commenting!

:)

~TheSketcher